Irwin's Journey - The Cardsmith-Chapter 308: Purple mist

Irwin was happy when he saw Canadensis through the trees. His soulscape was starting to turn sore, and he wanted to find a place to put the embers- well, all those that weren't his own. He'd been having too much fun chatting with the last addition.

A few of the Viridians were walking around the buildings, looking up as their group walked out of the forest. As soon as they saw their captive, most ducked into buildings or hurried away, while some of the armed warriors came forward.

"Please get Sahroot and Loumei here," Heimnin shouted at them.

One of the warriors, a towering fellow who was holding a long quarterstaff that had two wicked barbed ends, turned and ran to the main building.

Heimnin turned to Tang. "Please remain here. I don't know if Sahroot will want him in town. "

Tang nodded, and Irwin and the others remained with him as they waited. A short while later, another Viridian, a woman with pale green and yellow leaves, came running towards them.

"Someone was wounded?" she asked, looking around worriedly before her eyes focused on Scintilla, still carried by Irwin. "Quick, put her down!" she ordered, almost glaring up at him.

"I'm fine," Scintilla said, her face turning a deeper golden red than usual.

"Don't be ridiculous! I understand you enjoy being carried, but I need to check!" the woman said snippily, waving at Irwin and pointing at the ground near where she stood, which had a pale carpet of grass-like vegetation that partially grew up the trunk of the nearby trees.

"Sorry, little Blademaiden," Irwin said as he grinned at Scintilla and gently put her down.

"Sure you are! Just not strong enough to carry me anymore, are you?" Scintilla said.

The Viridian healer seemed uninterested in their banter, and she pushed Irwin out of the way, or tried to. As he felt her useless push, Irwin smiled at Scintilla, then stepped back to give her room.

A green and golden light glowed from her hands as she placed them on Scintilla, whose eyes shot open as she let out a strangled gasp.

"Tut, tut," the healer said, frowning. "You have not had enough food for a month, and a large amount of old, partially healed wounds. It is a good thing I am here! You are coming with me so I can use the root network to empower my healing and get to the deeper issues!"

Scintilla shook her head, seeming ready to argue, only for the healer to put her hands on her hips and stare her down.

Irwin laughed softly, stepping forward and hugging Scintilla, realizing just how small she was compared to him.

"Go with her. I'll tell you what happened later," he said.

"I'm an eight-sword Blademaiden," Scintilla muttered, glaring at the healer. "Why am I being treated like some recently formed child?"

"You unlocked your eighth sword?" Irwin said. "That's great. Tell me about it tonight!"

Scintilla sniffed, then gave him a peck on the lips and followed the healer, who grabbed her hand and almost dragged her away.

From behind he heard footsteps, and turning he saw Sahroot stride toward them, eyes wide as he glared at the invader.

"You found her? Is she injured?" Sahroot asked, stopping next to Irwin.

"She had some old wounds from the last month that didn't heal properly, according to the healer," Irwin said.

"Ahh… don't mind Bracta, alright? She is the best healer we have, but she has little patience with those who don't jump when she tells them to. Still, if there is anything wrong with your friend, she will heal it. Now, I see you have captured the invader," the thin, old Viridian said curiously.

"We did," Irwin said. "And finished another."

Sahroot looked at him, then at Heimnin, who nodded.

"That is great," Sahroot exclaimed. "By the elder tree, I hope those were the only two."

Irwin shrugged, not willing to say anything while the invader was still there. If there were more, and he said they thought there were none, it would become troublesome, and if there were none, their prisoner could act as if there were.

"And you want to interrogate him now?" Sahroot asked, his eyes narrowing dangerously as he stared at the figure still held by Tang.

"Yes. Do you have a good place for that?" Irwin asked.

Sahroot nodded as he beckoned some of the armed Viridians. "Clear out the easter quarry, and tell Loumei to meet us there!"

Three of the Viridians ran further along the clearing, away from the small village drilled partially into the rock, while a fourth sprinted into the dugout building to the side.

Sahroot turned to Heimnin. "Grovekeeper, prepare the trees around the quarry. I don't want our prisoner to have any chance of fleeing."

Heimnin's eyes widened and filled with joy. He nodded quickly, turned, and sprinted after the other three Viridians as if worried Sahroot would change his mind.

Irwin looked at Sahroot, raising an eyebrow.

"We usually don't allow the Grovekeepers to work their skills unless it is to expand the grove. This will be his first time using his power and the power of the trees to create an enclosure," Sahroot said. "For one as young as him, who was born here, it is understandable that he is excited. It will be the first time he gets to use that part of his skills for anything but practice and growth.΅

Irwin looked around and wondered how many of the Viridians had been born here or if they had even been born. With the large difference in how the different carded species he had met procreated, it wouldn't surprise him if they grew from nuts hanging from a tree.

Sahroot didn't seem to notice his curiosity but kept staring at the invader dangling from Tang's hand. "Let's head out. Heimnin will have things ready for us before we get there."

Tang nodded, swaying the invader around a bit as he turned to head in the direction Heimnin had run off to.

"Before we go, is it alright if I put some of the embers in there?" Irwin asked, pointing at the narrow stream of pyroflux. "I have them in my soulscape, but they are starting to be a bit too much."

"Of course!" Sahroot said as his leafy eyebrows shot up. "There is plenty of room!"

Irwin smiled thankfully as he headed for the nearest stream, a three-foot-wide, narrow channel that seemed to run along the rocky wall and through the small town. As he put his hand in the superheated fluid, enjoying the sensation, his otherself warned the embers, and a moment later, a host of them appeared in the liquid. It took a while for all of them to be out, but when they did, he felt like a massive weight had been removed from his shoulders. The only ones he kept with him were his own four children, who seemed perfectly fine with staying.

The eldest, at least if size counted for that, was constantly with his otherself, talking and asking questions, her words and sentences rapidly progressing into fully intelligible. Right now, she was chatting with Ambraz, who had been swimming around with them any chance he got.

"Stay here and be nice," Irwin said while also projecting the same emotions and wishes to the group of small Embers.

A wave of agreement came, though he could sense they barely even paid him attention, more interested in rushing through the channels and toward the town. Irwin glanced around, then noticed Zender nearby, watching the ember with a big grin.

"Zender, can you keep an eye on them?" Irwin said.

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"Definitely, captain!" Zender said, already running before his words were out.

One of the armed Viridians ran after him. "I'll keep them out of trouble, elder."

Sahroot merely nodded while Boohm joined Irwin, nodding slowly. "Smart. If we have to get handsy with our guest, it's best the boy doesn't see too much of that."

"Exactly," Irwin said.

"Then let us go," Sahroot said. "I'm curious to see what our prisoner can tell us."

Irwin noticed the hate in the invader's eyes as his gaze flicked between Sahtoor, Tang, and himself.

Yeah. I wonder how much he is going to tell us, he thought.

The quarry was a small clearing with a partially excavated rockside a little outside of town. The trees around it were glowing a dull orange while Heimnin and the other armed Viridians stood in one of the pits.

Irwin had expected Vahroot to head there, but instead, he walked into one of the tunnels, which led into a small dugout cave that smelled of stone dust and, oddly, fresh soil. The sides had dugout trenches with black soil from which tiny stalks were growing. Loumei was kneeling near one of the trenches, examining a stalk. As Vahroot and the others walked in, she rose and met them in the center of the cave. Her eyes widened as she saw Tang's hulking form, barely able to stand upright in the high-ceilinged cave, his hand still wrapped around the invader.

"We only recently started digging out the stone and useful materials and creating proper growing places for Shadebeets," Vahroot said as he turned to the other three. "If anything happens, this would be the place we would do the least damage."

Irwin wondered what he expected to happen, and Loumei's raised eyebrows showed that he wasn't the only one. After a few moments, he focused on Tang.

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"I'll be asking him some questions. Please free him to reply after I'm done."

Tang nodded, and Irwin focused on the invader. He'd decided a few questions he wanted to ask and which to start with.

"I want you to tell me what you know of the guidar," Irwin said. "Then tell me why you are here, both in our part of the Portal Gallery and on this world."

He nodded at Tang, who unwrapped a finger from the invader's mouth.

Unlike before, the invader didn't start cursing. He just glared at Irwin while licking his lips and taking deep, shallow breaths.

After a minute had passed, Irwin frowned and glanced at Tang.

Tang's other fingers squeezed, and this time, the invader's gasp of pain was audible to them all.

"Answer his questions," Tang rumbled.

"Why should I? You are planning to rip out my soulskills and kill me anyway!" the invader hissed.

"Soulskills… as in multiple?" Irwin said slowly, frowning. "You are a Guidar."

He added the last partially to see how the invader would react and partially because he didn't believe the other's initial denial.

The invader's teeth gnashed, and he seemed close to speaking. Then, he took a deep breath and seemed to calm himself.

"Think whatever you want," he hissed.

"What I think is that the only species around that can steal other people's soulskills are Guidar," Irwin said. "And you just said you have multiple soulskills."

"That just shows your lack of knowledge," the invader snapped before he could stop himself. "Or you are lying," he hissed.

"Perhaps I don't know a lot about the area of the Portal Gallery you are from, but neither do you know much about this one," Irwin said, again trying to bait the other. "If you answer my questions, I won't steal your soulskills, not that I even could if I wanted to."

"Lies," the invader hissed, staring at Irwin's hands, then his chest. "I can sense the churning amalgamation of soulskills inside you!"

Irwin frowned, then hesitantly took out a card from his pocket. "What is this to you?"

"The crystalized remains of a soulskill," the invader shouted angrily, though Irwin saw his eyes lock on the card for a bit before drifting away as if disregarding it.

"And what do you do with these?" Irwin said, raising an eyebrow.

The invader stared at him, then sniffed. "What do you care?"

"What we do with them is slot them in our handslots," Irwin said, raising his hand. "So we can use the card."

"Lies!" the invader snarled. "You take the living skill from someone and rip it out of their soul!"

Irwin held the invader's gaze, and as he did, he knew one thing. The purple-blooded being was either a great liar, or he believed what he was saying. Should he add some pain or threats to see if more could come? He thought about what had already happened and decided against it for now. Besides, there might be an easier way to handle this. Or atleast attempt to.

He looked around, seeing Boohm quietly observing from the back while Sahroot and Loumei stood a bit to the side of Irwin.

"Sahroot, do you have someone here who needs another vegetation-based handcard? Topaz or Emerald?" Irwin asked, pulling a pack of cards from his soulscape.

"I… yes, but… do you think- You want to show him?" Sahroot said, his eyes wide as he stared at the stack of cards.

"Yes. It seems the easiest, and we need to start getting some answers," Irwin said. "If that begins with getting rid of some odd preconceptions, we start there."

"What kind of cards do you have?" Sahroot asked, glancing at the stack again.

"How about a topaz card called Razor Leaf, which will allow the wielder to control a lot of leaves, sharpening their edges and allowing them to be used for attack?"

Sahroot's eyebrows shot up, and he nodded.

"I'll be right back!"

He sprinted away, and Irwin watched the invader. The purplish eyes were narrowed and confused as he looked at the cards in Irwin's hand.

Nobody spoke until Sahroot came back with a younger, fully green-haired Viridian behind him. The girl would be twelve if she had been human, looking around curiously, then her eyes snapped to the card in Irwin's hands.

"This is Tierabel, the daughter of a friend of mine," Sahroot said. "She has a final cardslot left and many cards that deal with leaves and growth. Perhaps… after she takes it, you can reforge her card for us?"

Irwin saw the hopeful look in Tierabel's eyes, and he scanned her other five cards. A beautiful, well-balanced song echoed out from them, showing that she had had great guidance in selecting her cards. The highest surprised him, as it was of emerald rank. All of them were plant-based, and as Irwin scanned the card in his hand, he smiled.

He hesitated slightly as he pondered if he should reforge the card, then he suppressed the idea. It wasn't needed for her heartcard, and he'd have to do so out of sight of their captive.

"No problem. You have very well-balanced cards."

Tierabel's eyes almost glowed as she smiled at him and accepted the card.

"Thank you," she said, her voice carrying the rustle of leaves in spring.

She stepped back, placed the card on her hand, and smiled as it burst into a pale green glow and hovered above her final empty slot.

Irwin didn't look at her but kept a close eye on their captive, whose eyes went from ridicule, to disblieve to panic.

"No! Tricks… this can't-" he began, only for Tang to close his mouth.

"Quiet, she needs to focus," the massive Fiz'rin whispered.

A few minutes later, the card was gone, and Tierabel pirouetted while laughing happily.

"Thank you so much, Smi-"

Irwin blurred forward and put his hand on Tierabel's mouth, smiling as her eyes shot wide with panic.

"Sorry to scare you," Irwin said as he stared at her and then glanced at the invader. He put a finger to his lips and raised his eyebrows.

"Oh," Tierabel whispered, nodding quickly.

Irwin removed his hand. "Now, why don't you go and show your friends? Then, talk with your parents and have them help you with the last steps. Make sure you don't try it on your own. It will hurt a lot, and you might fail, shattering all the cards."

Tierabel nodded, looked around, then dashed out of the cave.

Sahroot sighed. "Sorry, I didn't think about that."

"It is fine," Irwin said, turning to Tang and nodding.

Tang removed a finger from the invader's lips again, but the pale man was quiet, staring at Irwin.

"I thought it might be better to show you instead of telling you," Irwin said. "We don't take soulskills from living creatures, though. Some people kill soulskilled for their cards."

"This… has to be a trick," the invader said, but he sounded less convinced this time.

"It is not. Now, could you tell me your name so I don't have to keep calling you invader or prisoner?"

"Or purple-blooded demon," Boohm said, his voice so loud Irwin saw the invader grimace and glare at the Onyxian.

"I am not a demon," the invader hissed. "I am… Zazir of the Waiters."

Irwin shared a look with the others, but all he got were blank stares.

"Well, Zazir, now that we have shown you that we don't take the soulskill of others, can you tell me what you do with cards? You looked… interested for a moment," Irwin said as he took out his large stack of cards.

Zazir stared at the cars, eyes gleaming, then he swallowed.

"We can consume them and add part of their skill to our own," Zazir said.

Irwin was glad he was getting some answers, even if they weren't exactly those he wanted.

"Alright," he said, nodding as he tried to look as calm as possible. "So, now we know a bit about each other. Could you tell me why you came here and killed so many people?"

Zazir's gaze flicked around as if he were looking for a way to flee.

"I see," Irwin said, holding back his annoyance. "Then perhaps you can tell me why more of you are attacking the other distant branches?"

"We are not!" Zazir snapped. "There aren't even enough of us to-" he bit off the rest of what he was going to say and glowered at Irwin as if he'd tricked him into answering, which, if Irwin had to be honest, he had. Not that it was much of a trick…

"Are you fleeing from someone?" Sahroot asked, stepping forward. "From those Guidar?"

Zazir grimaced.

"If you are fleeing from the Guidar, perhaps we have the same enemy," Irwin said, staring at Zazir.

"I don't believe you. You are somehow tricking me, just like the Guidar would! You are all the same!" as he spoke, a purple gleam crossed Zazir's eyes, and Irwin had to resist taking a step back. Zazir's previously muted, hard-to-sense soulforce was starting to roil, causing a painful and disgusting resonance to burst out. Irwin's soulcard, and especially the flame part of it, almost burst out of his control, aimed at destroying whatever the purple thing was.

He is infected but doesn't know it? Irwin thought, clamping down on his soulcard. Trying not to show anything, he continued with his questions.

"No. We are not like the Guidar. But what I know of them is that they can take the soulskills of others, which matches what you told me that you do. How do I know you are not a Guidar?"

Zazir growled, more purple gleaming across his eyes. "We are nothing like-"

"Yes, you told me," Irwin said, cutting him off. Perhaps he could force the thing out. The one within the Bablibon had been intelligent, and perhaps this one was too and could answer some more questions.

"But you won't tell me why you are here, and your abilities are just like theirs."

"Not just like them," Zazir snarled. He glared at Irwin, and then his gaze slowly drifted to the stack of cards and the door. The purple glow was increasing, and Irwin quickly looked at Tang, mouthed 'get ready' and hoped the other would understand. The resonance was now so loud Irwin was surprised that nobody else heard it. It was starting to become harder and harder to keep his soulcard's flame from bursting out and raging through the cave.

Irwin shook his head.

"Alright, then, how about you tell me why your friend had that evil purple stuff inside of him?" Irwin asked.

Zazir's eyes rolled around, then returned to focus on him, now more purple than their previous blue.

"And perhaps you can tell me why your eyes are now purple?" Irwin said.

Zazir's eyes rolled up, and the whites turned fully purple. Thin tendrils of purplish steam rose from Zazir's ears and nostrils. The resonance turned into a nasty, dissonant song that, to Irwin's senses, caused all the ambient soulforce to resonate while he felt his soulcard's desire to burn away the disgusting presence grow so fast, Irwin knew tiny flames were now flickering through his hairs, and leaking out of his eyes.

A soft, hazy laugh came from Zazir's mouth, very unlike his previous voice.

"My, my. You are almost pure Galadin. Close enough to one that you could have tricked me into believing you are one of those ancient fools. Who would have thought these fools managed to find one!"

Irwin felt his skin crawl at the voice but did his best to hide it.

"Now, please tell me that me that you are a Guidar?" he asked, readying his flame.

"No, but I know of them. Even more scary than my kind is," the thing inhabiting Zazir was droned.

Irwin was about to ask something else when he saw thin, purple tendrils of smoke rise up and head for Tang's ears.

"Tang, release it and jump back," Irwin roared as he let loose his flame, which rippled out and around Zarzir's body.

As Tang jumped back, a deep red, almost black flame rippled out from him, shoving the purplish tendrils away. As Irwin's flame surrounded the Zarzir, a burst of hysterical laughter erupted from his body.

"You can't contain me! I'll take over your body and that of the others!"

Irwin felt his soulforce, still low from having the embers in his soulscape, ripple with disgust, and a moment later, Ambraz appeared on his shoulder.

"What- Seriously!? Can't I leave you alone for one moment!?"

Irwin didn't react but waved at Tang.

"Get everyone out of here! Then guard the door!"

"Young one, I can help," Tang rumbled, turning to the two Viridians. "Leave! Don't let anyone in!"

Irwin wanted to tell him to leave when the purplish being began pushing back against his flame. It created a ten-foot cocoon of clear purple around Zarzir's body, and Irwin felt his soulforce drain rapidly. Then Tang's black fire wrapped around his, and he felt the pressure reduce to less than half. At the same time, he felt a slight sense of kinship coming from his own flame.

"Fine! We need to burn it away! All of it!" he shouted.

"Not happening! You two are going to be my newest vessels, and with you, I'll be able to combat those pests!"