Irwin's Journey 493: Hammering in some finesse

Umbral woke in a way unlike any he could recall in a very long time. It wasn't anything like the many hundreds of years during the many wars against the demons, nor like the last few years of his people's final struggle against the Guidar. It was definitely not like how he'd woken over the millennia when he'd been recently chained, when his mind had been able to resist the forced slumber.

No. 

As he blinked his eyes, feeling a softness wrap around him and a sense of… calm, he recalled a fleeting memory from long ago. From a time when he was young and living in his family's burrow on their long-shattered homeworld, when he knew nothing of the constant death and toil the elders went through to keep the burrows safe. Stable, calm, and safe. A memory so old that he'd forgotten about it until now.

Umbral dove into the memory, relishing it and wondering how he'd ever forgotten it. Forgotten the time before he'd become an adult and went through the hiding of emotions.

The moment lasted longer than it should, but he might have remained in it for far longer if the memory of what had caused him to be where he was hadn't suddenly flowed back.

I live, and I am free… he thought as he felt his soulforce flow around and through his soulscape, free of chains, bonds, and the painful pressure he'd gotten so used to.

He struggled for a split second, then his outward appearance regained its trained emotionlessness.

Will it still be the same?

He hesitated for only a moment, then he moved his mind's eye into his soulscape, a thing he hadn't been able to do for longer than the history of most civilisations. 

He appeared in a large cave, the central one of a familiar warren deep underground, a set of interconnected holes. Pale red plants grew along the wall, a soft light flowing over the beautiful murals carved in the walls. Murals that depicted scenes of a world no longer in existence, of a people of whom only a few still lived. 

It still exists, Umbral thought, feeling a wave of relief. 

For most of the time since he awoke, he had expected his soulscape to have been completely destroyed by the crunching of the chains. Never had he imagined that the part where he had long ago stored his favorite memories might still survive. 

He stared at some of the murals, surprised by just how many details he'd lost, forgotten, or gotten wrong during his mental exercises over the years. He had no idea how long he hovered there, taking in scenes of breathtaking beauty.

Eventually, he jolted out of it, and with a final glance, his mind's eye flew through the remake of his family's ancient warren, then outside. He appeared on the top of a hill in the few miles of hilly landscape that flowed around and below him and comprised his soulscape. Dark forests with trees that no longer existed anywhere else filled the valleys, the leaves a deep, vibrant black, warm brown, or a red that made him think of his mother's hair. 

Again, Umbral hovered there for a long time before slowly staring up at the barrier. Rips and long cracks were rapidly closing, hiding the chaotic space beyond them from view. A faint red mist moved across, and he knew it would eventually hide what lay beyond.

"They are gone…" 

His whispered words echoed through the silence of his soulscape.

Umbral looked at his hand.

"He freed me…"

He took a deep breath as his calculating mind began telling him what that meant, what he would have to do. 

Who is Terlo, and how did he know Irwin could do this? Can he free the others? What is Irwin really, and what is true of the rumors I have heard? 

Many questions, but one was the most important.

How can they help me avenge my people?

He quickly shot across his soulscape, noticing that not everything had survived unscathed. The outer barrier of valleys and hills looked like a giant had slowly crushed it over many eons. Sturdy hillsides had been reduced to pebbles and dust on the edges, and larger rubble lay more towards the center. The soulforce flowing through this area felt ragged and chaotic. 

It would repair itself, he knew, although it might take a long time. 

One quick test, and then see what is going on outside.

He shot towards the center of his soulscape, where a small lake lay nestled between the hills, beautiful, dark red, right-tipped grass flowing along its banks. As Umbral's mind's eye hung above it, he focused, drawing in soulforce. He revelled in how easily it flowed to his command, but he stumbled a few times over the complex patterns before he succeeded.

The fourth time, his control finally matched his memories, and a tiny, transparent red shape appeared above his soullake. 

Umbral took a deep breath, then let it out as he looked around his soulscape. He could recall the last time his aura construct had been here, moments before it was shattered by the chains. How many ages had flowed since then, he didn't know, but as he moved his arms, hands, and fingers in complex gestures, he faintly remembered the brute-force, no-finesse way the cardsmith Irwin had tried to find him. 

He has a soulforce aura, but no control. How is that even possible?

As the soulforce began following the patterns he was shaping, Umbral watched as a tiny blink of bright red light began forming before him. It grew and brightened rapidly, until, with a flash, it exploded. A tiny red bird with a long yellow beak, a black rotund body with bright red and golden highlights, fluttered in the air before him. It seemed confused, then let out a startling screech and dove down, rushing into the grass and out of view.

Umbral sensed the living soulforce construct move through the grass, likely searching for tiny insects that weren't there. He felt a wave of joy, copying the patterns again. A few minutes later, a second bird hid from view, scuttling around and very likely to find the other soon enough.

One more thing, then it's time to head out.

Umbral began moving his arms again, in rapid, but less complex, gestures, his fingers flitting in patterns he had taken decades to learn as a student. A moment later, a few thumb-sized, wiggling insects appeared, dropping down into his soullake. They disappeared into the depths.

He sensed them move to the sides of the bank, where they would burrow into the mud and begin multiplying. Only simple soulforce constructs could do that, which was why everyone was always told to start with those. Between them and the birds, it would be enough for now. His soulforce would stabilize more, eventually enough for him to create the more complex soulforce constructs.

"One step at a time," he whispered, before the tiny red version of himself closed its eyes, hovering above the soullake.

Umbral, the real one, opened his eyes, staring at the wooden beams holding up the ceiling. He could sense the foreign soulforce of the cardsmith, thick and potent, like a mist that clung to everything. It was different from his own, far more complex, and composed of too many patterns. 

A roaring, blinding beacon of soulforce stood a few paces away.

"So. I take it you have some questions," he said emotionlessly as he pushed himself up into a sitting position.

The smith stood on the other side of a spacious bedroom, his form small and translucent blue.

He can at least create an aura clone while he has no control? How…?

--

Irwin watched the slim, pale being before him stare back at him.

Umbral's previously entirely red eyes had become more normal, though his pupils were still glowing with a dim red light. Strings of his long black hair, tied up and behind his head, hung down his cheeks. All in all, Umbral resembled a short, skinny human with too sharp features, giving off a sense of danger. 

Still, Irwin recalled the odd soulforce resonance and the sharp red teeth hidden behind the thin lips. Then there was the clear absence of cardslots. Umbral might resemble a human, yes. But he clearly wasn't.

"I do," he said. "But before that, I feel none of the chains remaining, so I take it I was successful?"

"I am free," Umbral said.

"And your soulscape?" Irwin asked, trying and failing to sense anything from the one before him. It had taken him great effort to keep Umbral's soulforce resonance intact after the Guidar had left, but a peculiar thing had happened as soon as the stability had returned. Umbral's soulforce signature had simply vanished. He could still feel his physical presence, and he could see him sit before him, but beyond that? It was as if the being called Umbral had no soulforce presence at all.

How is he able to do this while inside my soulscape? he thought, frowning. He could have understood it if it were outside his soulscape, but in here? How?

"Because your soulforce lacks subtlety. It's like that hammer you use to reforge. A powerful but blunt instrument that is easy to hide from," Umbral said, his voice cold, though Irwin thought he saw a flicker of something in his eyes. Hilarity? "And before you ask, I didn't read your mind. However, you, like nearly all other beings not of my kind, showcase their emotions on their face, making it easy to figure out what they are thinking."

Irwin rubbed his eyes before leaning back. He was older than most people on Giard ever got, but as he looked at the being before him, he felt like a child. The knowledge hidden behind those eyes…

"Tell me the things you promised," he said. "And perhaps start with why you said that beings in my soulscape are under my control, but I can't even sense you."

Another minute flicker of hilarity passed through the red eyes.

"A good first question, but would you have any sustenance in here? I haven't had a proper meal in hundreds of thousands of years."

Irwin felt his mouth go dry.

"Follow me," he said, deciding that trying to move the being before him while he couldn't even sense his soulforce signature might not be the best idea.

Umbral moved off the bed, moving as if his body had no bones, before following him. He moved without making a single sound, following Irwin down into the combined living room and kitchen, a spacious area with a low sitting area split from the kitchen by a low wall against which stood a large table with space for a dozen people.

Irwin waved at the table before hesitating as he looked at the kitchen. Then he pulled food from the storage and filled the table with a meal large enough to feed himself twice over. Two thick glasses and a few bottles stood with it, and he sat down on one side, motioning for Umbral to sit at the opposite side.

The ancient being looked at the food for only a moment before almost rushing to the table, sitting down, and piling his plate with a variety of meat. A moment later, the sound of chewing filled the room, and with a weary sigh, Irwin copied the other. 

Two plates later, Umbral sniffed the various canteens of drink and eventually poured himself one that Irwin knew held Firespiced Water, one of the many Ignitzian drinks he had, and one deemed tasteless by the Ignitzians. He knew that most others still found it spicy, though bearable.

"Thank you," Umbral said after a sip. "For unchaining me, freeing me, and the meal. Continue, and I'll tell you some of the things you asked."

Irwin hesitated, then shrugged and piled another helping of Magma Tuber stew.

"As I told you, my name is Umbral, and I am from a nearly extinct species called Shaidin. Many eons ago, my people had a thriving empire that spanned our Portal Web when we encountered the Guidar. They wiped us out, and-"

Irwin listened quietly, his spoon forgotten halfway to his mouth as Umbral spoke of his people's war against the Guidar. He sensed Ambraz listening in, hiding in the rafters, while his otherself shared what he heard with Scintilla, both of them quietly sitting in the smithy back on Scour.

"- after which they chained me and the other Assassins," Umbral said, still with an emotionless expression. The only thing that gave away how he felt was a tiny flicker in his eyes.

It was quiet for a bit, then Umbral sighed.

"Now, you asked how you could not sense me, and why I alluded to being under your control. Let me start with the latter. Technically, this is true, as you could lock down my physical self… if you can find me. However, at the time, the order I had been given was being enforced by the chains, and even Terlo's odd ability couldn't… You know Terlo?"

Irwin's hand had dropped to the table, his eyes widening as he stared at the being before him. 

"Terlo… annoying teleporter who keeps picking his nose," he said slowly. "Golden hair, blue eyes, dresses like he is going to a party?"

Umbral's eyes narrowed by a tiny fraction.

"He sounds like this," the Shaidin said, sniffing before speaking again, this time in a voice completely unlike his own. "I know who can unchain you!"

Irwin stared at him, knowing he'd just heard the voice he recalled matching with Terlo. How had he done that? Was it a skill or just a natural ability to mimic voices? After a few moments, he rubbed his hand across his face. "That's him. What does he have to do with all this?"

"The Guidar responsible for this branch, Slaudi, captured and chained him to teleport me here," Umbral said. "His bindings, however, were meant for a normal being. Not for a clone of something inhuman."

Irwin frowned as he tried to recall all he knew about Terlo. He had seen the man only a few times, and Greldo had more interaction with him. Still, he'd seemed… normal. 

"You are sure he is a clone?" he asked.

"Guaranteed," Umbral said, raising his fingers. "Anything I touch cannot hide its true identity from me. It is one of the abilities that made it so difficult for the Guidar to invade us. They were required to use brute force, which allowed us to resist them longer than any others beyond the Galladin."

Irwin stared at the Shaidin, trying to get to grips with what he was hearing.

"You know about the Galladin?" he asked slowly.

"Yes. I also know that Terlo is likely related to them in some way," Umbral said, before sipping from his drink thoughtfully. "From all I know, you very likely used to be a Galladin, as were some of those who now live as Crathans. What I do wonder is how you ever managed to change yourself so much that you became a new species. My people attempted this in the past and never found a proper way to do it without causing horrific, monstrous mistakes."

"Why do you think I was a Galladin?" Irwin asked slowly.

"Because the Guidar have you on a list of potential Galladin," Umbral said. "You aren't all that high, but high enough for them to give it a very credible belief. The reason you are not higher is because they seem to believe you are one of only a few who survived the destruction of your homeworld. This is clearly not true."

Irwin leaned back, reached out for a drink that automatically filled itself as he moved some liquid into it, before taking a drink. 

He either knows or is guessing things way too close to the truth, he thought, staring at Umbral. Perhaps he should just keep him in his soulscape from now on…

"I can see you are worried," Umbral said. "You have no need to fear. I'll never share what I know with the Guidar, and they will never be able to bind me again."

Irwin frowned at that, raising an eyebrow.

"There is a long story behind how they bound us," Umbral said, taking a careful sip. "But the short version of it is that only a single one of them found a way to do so, and it cost him nearly everything. Had there been only a few dozen more of our kind on which he had attempted this, it would have caused him to die and thus reverse the chaining."

Irwin watched him quietly, pondering what the Shaidin said. "So, by what you tell me, this Guidar isn't dead. What would prevent him from binding you again?"

"His ability to catch me," Umbral said as emotionlessly as ever. "The way they caught me and the others before was by using a trap. The bait they used, however, no longer exists."

This time, a flicker of emotion crossed the Shaidin's face, and Irwin had a good idea that he knew what 'bait' he was implying.

Irwin thought quietly about what he'd heard, but the more he did, the more he knew he needed someone else here. Someone to ask questions he wouldn't be able to come up with, and to memorize all the answers.

I won't bring him to Eluathar, so that means I'll need to bring Daub here, Irwin thought. 

'I think I'm going to have to go and get Daubutim,' he sent to Ambraz.

'Yeah, that might not be a bad idea,' the Ganvil responded. 'If only to have him absorb and later spread the knowledge he has. But… before you do that, I think there are some things he might be able to help us with. I've been trying to figure out how he is blocking us from sensing him, and I think I know how. He is constantly resonating a slight shell of soulforce around him in perfect harmony with your soulforce. I can very faintly sense him now, but it's incredibly difficult. I would need to be ten or twenty times more sensitive to really detect him properly, and the further I am from him, the harder it would still be.'

Irwin frowned as his friend continued talking rapidly.

'If he can handle his own soulforce with this much control, he either has an incredible soulforce sensitivity or some tricks that allow him to do this. Whichever it is, we should learn which it is. If he has intense soulforce sensitivity, perhaps he could learn to become a cardsmith? Or he can help us become better?'

Irwin felt Ambraz's excitement grow rapidly, and he quickly shook his head.

'Calm down. I'll ask him.'

He looked up to see Umbral observing him. 

"You were talking with the Ganvil?" the Shaidin asked, pointing with his finger up at the spot Ambraz was hiding.

"Yes," Irwin said, wondering if he should feel surprised. He wasn't. He also wasn't when he felt a sense of annoyance from Ambraz, followed by reluctant acceptance as he flew down and landed on his shoulder.

"How sensitive are your soulforce senses, and what causes them to be this sensitive?" Ambraz asked.

Umbral looked at him for a moment, curiosity flickering across his eyes.

They look nearly completely emotionless, but their eyes… they give things away, Irwin thought. Was it something they didn't know? Or did they and were they unable to stop it? Perhaps this one had lost the ability to hide that?

"It is training," Umbral said after seeming to ponder something. "Can you juggle?"

Irwin blinked as he tried to follow the sudden shift in topic.

"No," he said after a moment.

"Could you learn how to juggle?" Umbral asked coldly.

"I… yes, probably," Irwin said. 

"How hard would it be? Try it now."

Irwin hesitated, then summoned a few rocks from outside, having them appear in his hands. He frowned and threw them up. He managed to catch them, but did not throw them fluidly. His frown deepening, he tried again, realizing that where he threw them was just as important, if not more so, than how he caught them.

After half a minute, he was juggling three rocks, adding a fourth after another minute. He had to strain, but as he continued, he slowly felt it become easier.

"Good," Umbral said, waving him to stop. "Now, could you have done so when you were just born?"

"No, but I guess I could have learned after my fifth or sixth," Irwin said, slowly understanding what the Shaidin was getting at. "You want to tell me that even with a weaker, less mobile body, I could have gotten to the same result by practice…"

"Exactly," Umbral said, pointing at him. "Your current soulforce sensitivity and power are already beyond what most of the others I have seen on Scour have. However, there are certain things, like this-"

Irwin felt his soulforce signature appear, then disappear, only to reappear a few steps away. His eyes widened as he looked to the spot he felt Umbral, before looking back to the spot where he sat.

"-you can't do," Umbral continued talking, not seeming to bother with Irwin's confusion. "Not because you can't, but because even your power won't allow you to do it without, at a minimum, trying it a few times. Besides, you would need to understand that you can even do something like this."

Irwin exhaled as he looked at the being that sat in the chair before him.

"Can you teach this to me?" he asked slowly.

"Yes, and it's not the only thing you should learn," Umbral said as he raised his hand and caused a tiny, translucent red version of him to appear on his hand. The small version of him waved at Irwin before walking around and sitting down on Umbral's thumb. "You have Aura, and a good deal of it. That said, some of the Guidar who focus on this have more, and they have millions of hours of practice with it. You have little to none. When you tried to find me before, the crudeness of it was incredible. If I had known you had it beforehand, I could have moved within your Aura without you ever knowing I was there. Now, it's not needed for you to become that good, nor do I even know if you can even learn this much finesse, but currently, you are under using your abilities by a staggering amount. Had you not been able to unchain me, and had Terlo not given me the ability to resist, I fear you would have been dead at my hand without much resistance."

Irwin felt his hair rise as he shivered at the cold finality of those words. He examined the small being hesitantly. He seemed so weak, but at the same time, he was incredibly hard to pin down. 

"Don't think your tough skin would have saved you, or the fact that you can hide in your soulscape," Umbral said cooly. "Your additional bodies would have only helped you survive longer, but eventually I would have tracked them down."

Yes, but could you have moved around as fast as I had, Irwin thought, wondering what the other would think if he knew he could move to another world in a matter of seconds, crossing the Portal Gallery itself.

"I can see you don't believe this," Umbral said slowly. "I'm going to attack your aura clone now as an explanation of this. So please don't act recklessly."

Irwin barely had time to react when Umbral's soulforce signature seemed to blur across the room. His physical self just vanished. He felt him move, but it was easily as fast as when the Guidar's tiny silver essence had fled. Before he could pin it down, he felt his soulforce aura shiver and… shatter. It was as if a loud resonance broke the bonds that caused the soulforce resonance clone to exist in the first plac. The next thing he knew, he was back in his giantelf outside his building. 

'Kid! Get back in here!'

Irwin moved instantly, recreating an aura clone in the room, glancing around for Umbral only to find him back in his chair, quietly sipping from his drink. Irwin could sense the other's soulforce signature now. He felt a wave of anoyance, especially because he knew the reason he sensed it was because Umbral let him. Likely to calm him down, something that was proven by the Shaidin's next words.

"Calm down. It was just as an example," Umbral said.

Irwin frowned as he walked to the chair, glancing at the glass he'd dropped, the steaming liquid flowing from the edge of the table and dripping on the ground below.

"How did you move that fast? And how can you even move through my soulforce without me being able to stop you?" Irwin asked, trying to hold back his annoyance as he sat down.

"Your soulforce is everywhere and in a quantity that I haven't seen before," Umbral said, waving around. "It squeezes for the lack of a better word, on everything that is not of your soulscape. I used this pressure by making a spot behind me resonate in the opposite direction while having the spot in front of me resonate with it. The helped me push myself forward at a speed far higher than I would have normally been able to achieve. It is a technique used by Soulscape Hunters, beings from long ago that specialized in killing others from within their soulscape."

Irwin swallowed at the thought of something like Umbral hunting him.

"How did they even enter someone's soulscape?" he muttered, already having a good idea how but wanting to be sure.

"I can sense your soulscape has near impenetrable walls, something I wonder how you learned with this little knowledge," Umbral said. "This is not normal, especially not for such untrained beings as yourself. Normal beings have no defenses, and even I could step into their soulforce without issue. That said, most are so weak that just doing so would shatter them, causing those beings to die instantly."

Irwin sighed and summoned another glass with a stronger drink. He thought quietly about what had happened and what he'd learned, and two conclusions came to him almost immediately. 

"I'm going to have to bring someone else here soon," he said. "A friend of mine who has a very good memory and who will have far more questions than I do."

Umbral nodded, looking at him quietly.

"Beyond that, I want you to teach me everything you know about fighting and killing Guidar."

A wave of emotions suddenly swept over the Shaidin's face: anger, hate, hope, hunger. They faded as fast as they had come, leaving only a single one.

Anticipation.

"That I can do," Umbral said, smiling so wickedly that Irwin felt a shiver run down his spine.