Irwin's Journey 433: The other side of the equation

"Very well, if we are all done with the Lalerin Branch, let us examine the current state of the Langost Branch. All in agreement to move on?" a quiet, cold voice said. 

It belonged to a tall woman with red hair bound tightly in a ponytail, from which two darker red horns jutted upward. They were constantly pulsing, almost like a heartbeat, while a blurry mist or fog obscured her bright red eyes. Her skin was a yellowish, pale gray and seemed so thin as to be almost transparent.

She sat in the middle of five larger seats, in a circle of slightly less distinct chairs, which again was surrounded by a small elevation. Smaller chairs stood on this elevation. The chairs were all occupied with more horned, red-eyed beings, all radiating a calm, cold indifference. 

"Agreed."

"Yes."

The inner circle rapidly called out their agreement, although some of the speakers seemed unhappy with it. The outer circle only spoke when the last of the inner circle had mirrored them. 

"Alright, Slaudi, brief us on the Langost Branch."

A man with dark red, nearly black hair rose and nodded at the five.

"I have as of yet been unable to locate the Cardsmith Irwin, who was responsible for the death of our brother Lasther," the man spoke calmly. "My research has revealed that this Cardsmith came from Giard, an adjacent world to the world known as Fiverio. It has since shattered, and only a few dozen people managed to survive by moving to Fiverio. These have since vanished. The one responsible for this surviving pocket of Galadin was a man called Gelwin, whom, due to his age that rivals some of our own, we had long since suspected of being involved with the Galadin. We sent some Chained infiltrants to the Library to capture him. They managed to find him. However, he destroyed his body before they could capture him. I say destroyed, as it is unclear if he died. When his body was destroyed, they reported a flash of highly condensed soulforce on the level of a rank six being that sliced through reality and vanished."

"Vanished into the real universe?" someone asked, and multiple of those present leaned forward.

"No, from what they could detect, the signature was of movement to another Portal Gallery," Slaudi stated. "Sadly, they weren't sensitive enough to detect which matching World Portal Door this would connect to or how he managed to do such a thing at all."

A soft mutter rose from the surrounding beings, mostly curious ponderings on what type of soulskill could have accomplished this. It lasted only a few moments before being shut down.

"So, he likely followed the rest of his people and fled to another Portal Gallery," one of the Fivefold said. He was a wrinkled man with a bald head and horns that glowed brighter than those of most of the others. "Then they are fools and dead fools to boot. If it were that simple, we would have done so long ago."

"Unless they found another viable Portal Gallery that is more stable?" a voice came from the outer ring.

The leftmost man of the Fivefold looked up with a sneer.

"More stable? None of our research has ever found anything remotely more stable than this one," he said, his voice filled with disgust. "They will find themselves in a less stable Portal Gallery, with likely no way to open any Exit Portal, and thus being doomed to a slow, agonizing death due to lack of ambient soulforce. No. There is no need to dig into the reasoning of the mentally unstable. Continue your report."

A few of those in the outer ring shared frowned looks, but none dared to speak again. 

"Giard has shattered, and we are unable to find any of its shards, so either it was a thorough shattering or any remaining worldshards were blown far beyond our reach," Slaudi continued, seeming uncaring for the interruptions. "We lost track of Irwin after he left Suderfuix, which is the largest, most northern harbor. However, we did find a local tracker by the name of Terlo who had followed him to a world called Dimwacht, sometimes referred to as The Roaming Shipyard. Now, as a note, I would recommend our focus for this Branch be on that world as it has the ability to rapidly create large amounts of new ships."

One of the Fivefold nodded, waving their hand, which glowed momentarily.

"Did this… Terlo, mention where they left for?"

"No, but from what I have been able to find, there were only two Galadins in that world. One was Irwin, who by this point was what they call a diamond-rank smith, and the other was a man called Greldo. There was no sign of the missing Galadin of that Branch. I am still focusing on finding them, but it looks unlikely to succeed."

"Nothing else of note at this branch?"

"The Oculithar managed to infect a large number of worlds, but due to a lack of information, the people seem to think of it as some carded plague. It has increased our ease of takeover, as many have died, and we could perhaps incorporate this in a future expansion."

"Good, our agents were successful in destroying information," the leftmost man on the Fivefold said. "These outer branches all show a massive knowledge deficit, and with no communication with the central branches, they will all fall within a few decades."

Except for the leftmost man in the group of five, the others nodded.

"Anything else?" 

"I deem it unlikely that we will find a viable path into the southwest region. I have lost multiple scouting fleets already and wish to request sending the rest elsewhere for now."

The Fivefold looked at each other, and there was a round of quick nods.

"Acceptable. Do as you see fit," the woman in the center said. "This Branch only has a tiny representation of Galadin compared to more promising alternatives. Our efforts are best spent elsewhere, with one side note. Keep searching for this, Irwin. I vote we move to the next Branch. All in favor?"

Again, all voices spoke out in agreement, and Slaudi sat down.

"Let us get to the… Lieflin Branch," she said.

There was a slight tightness around her eyes as she focused her attention on the opposite side of the inner circle. 

"Sjeeklin, brief us," she said, her voice colder than a moment before.

A short man with wavy red hair, darker than that of the woman, rose from his seat, nodding at the woman, the two men on her left, and the one man and a woman on her right. As if in preparation for speaking, his eyes glowed so bright that they lit his light-gray face up like a pair of tiny torches. 

"Not unlike what you have heard from our brothers and sisters, we have also found more than ample proof of Galadin remnants surviving to this day.  Let it be known that I, and some of the other elders in this room, warned of this when we decided to create the great barrier and bide our time; we voted against this, citing our current predicament as a likely potential outcome."

A few on the council of five seemed to want to speak, but a cold look from Sjeeklin caused them to remain quiet.

"For those who weren't alive then, you will find a complete document of the happenings three hundred and sixty thousand years ago when you return home. This includes the decision made by the council at that time and the subsequent unwise slow hunting of the Galadin, which now results in them having scattered across the northeastern area that borders our extended empire."

As he continued to speak, there was no visible reaction from the inner or outer circles, but slowly, a sense of unease seemed to emanate from the Fivevold.

"Now, based on this, I wish to propose once again that we vote for a new course and a new Fivefold. As suggested before, I put myself forward as Arbiter."

"Sjeeklin, this is not what you are here for-" the central woman began, her eyes filled with hatred.

"Is it not, Jieldinis?" Sjeeklin asked, his blood-red eyebrows raising. "Are you sure? We have tried for over half a million years to find a way into the real universe and have always failed!"

The previous silence had been calm and collected, yet after Sjeeklin's final words, which conveyed eons of pain, hatred, and longing, it turned bitter and resentful. Red-eyes looked around, locking with others as messages played through the collective group.

"We should finally do what I have advocated for a long time," Sjeeklin said, his voice regaining its calm. "We are lucky that not all Galadin were destroyed. We should focus on the pockets of survivors, of which more than a few have shown promise. I say we capture all those we can and experiment on them until we can create a free-roaming worldskilled. At this point, we force this worldcarded to take us through an Exit Portal and into the real universe! We have been locked away here too long!"

The final part of Sjeeklin's words was almost a roar, while a wave of power seemed to flow from him.

"Sjeeklin, no use of skills within these chambers," Jieldinis shouted, rising from her seat. "You are not the only one alive back then, nor the only one disgruntled with past choices, but-"

"Then why do you plan to make them again?" Sjeeklin snapped. "You wish to eradicate all known Galadin presence because you fear they might rebuild what they had and again come close to raising multiple freeroaming-worldskilled! This is foolishness! Our experiments to take this soulskill for ourselves might have proven fruitless. However, it still presents the only theoretically possible way we have ever found!"

"We can't control one," Jieldinis shouted back. "We tried that with Yilda for eons! No matter what we did to her, she always resisted, and in the end, do I need to remind you, she even managed to flee?! We still don't know where she went, but her influence is still felt to this day!" 

"Don't be pedantic. We found her when she was already powerful," Sjeeklin snapped. "Her mind was more resilient than anything we ever found. Had we found her early, we would have easily been able to influence her, as we have proven many times. Soulforce power later does not undo previously caused mental damage."

"That is an assumption!" Jieldinis snapped, her eyes blazing.

As the two stood facing off, none of the others spoke, not even the Fivefold.

"Your years are addling your brain," Sjeekling snapped. "I raise a call to vote. We need a new Fivefold and a new Arbiter."

The leftmost of the Fivefold rose, speaking quickly. "A call to vote has been raised. All in favor of pulling forward the time of Rotation, raise your hand."

Jieldinis spun around, glaring at him. "Mindrach," she hissed.

The man ignored her, raising his hand, as did the sole other female on the Fivefold. All throughout the chamber, hands went up, and within moments, three-quarters were raised, mostly those in the outer ring.

"A large majority vote has been found," Sjeekling said, crossing his arms. "Those who wish to be in the Fivefold remain in the middle. The rest, Rotate!"

Over half of those in the center circle stepped to the middle, while the others hesitantly moved to the other circle. Soon, the entire middle circle of chairs was empty, with twenty people standing in the middle. They were discussing and chatting, and slowly, some left. Eventually, two groups of five remained. One of the groups consisted of Sjeeklin and two of the original Fivefold: Mindracht and the only other woman of the original group. Next to them stood two women who had moved in from the outer circle.

"Two potential groups," Jieldinis spat. Two new people had joined her original group. "Very well. Share your proposed direction. I will go first as we wait for the Soulcrystal to be brought."

Her words were fast, and she squared her shoulders as she glanced at the gathered group within the outer circle. It had grown from its original size as more and more horned beings had mysteriously appeared in the chambers.

"I say we continue our current direction. It has served us well. We have done as much as we can to destroy the Galadin from the shadows, but they have become too elusive to eradicate fully. So, we will incorporate these branches, Chain them, and then wipe out all Galadin. They pose a far too real and significant threat, and if even ten become roaming-worldskilled we might be unable to prevent them from finding and destroying us. After this, we see what these handcarded beings can bring us. With sufficient experimentation, perhaps we can still find a way to combine their card soulskill with our own."

There was a soft mutter from the outer circle as more and more people appeared. A small group of robed individuals appeared, one of whom carried a blood-red stone the size of a barrel. It pulsed like a heartbeat, and as it was carried forward, the horns that had been pulsing with their own unique rhythms began changing to match that of the crystal. It was put in the center where Jieldinis and Sjeekling were standing opposite each other. 

Only after the robed figures moved to the side, leaving the circle, did Sjeekling respond.

"I say no," he said. "I say we capture any and all Galadin and focus our effort on those that show promise. We put them through mental torture until they break, leaving them too weak to use whatever power roaming-worldskilled gains. Then, we use this to finally achieve our goal of reaching the real universe. Now, vote!"

A ripple occurred through the throng of people that now surrounded the central area.

The crystal jerked, then floated into the air, its power seemingly growing. It began wobbling between the two groups, sometimes moving to Jieldinis, then to Sjeekling. However, as time passed, it became surer, and very slowly, the crystal began moving toward Sjeekling.

A minute after it had started hovering, the crystal stopped before Sjeekling.

"Our people have spoken," he said. "Jieldinis, you are to return to the outer circle until another Rotation is called for. All those in the inner circle move to the outer circle. All those in the outer circle who wish for the burden move to the inner circle. We will vote on who may stay after."

As he spoke, Sjeekling moved past Jieldinis and sat down on the chair she had just vacated. A host of people from the outer lines began rushing in until the area was nearly overflowing. Jieldinis had moved to the outer circle, one of the few to sit down, while Sjeekling raised his hand.

"Now, let us begin."

---

Greldo watched with quiet disbelief as the remnants of once great harbor closed in.

He vividly remembered the first time he'd reached Scour, how he'd been awed by the magnificent tree, its roots hidden by the sprawling forrest around it, and the canopy pushing against the ceiling of the portal gallery barrier above. Ships had been all over the tree's docks, and people were walking everywhere. It had been one of the more bustling of these backwater harbors.

None of that remained.

The giant harbor tree stood like a lone pillar in a field of ash, the docks and all but the largest of branches gone as if they had never been. All that remained was its massive, now cracked and blackened trunk and the three giant branches pointing up at the barrier like fingers. The thick scent of burned wood seemed to cling to the barrier walls themselves, sharp and pungent and drowning out any other smell.

"There's nothing left," Dahlia said, standing beside him. 

She looked calm, but after all these years, Greldo recognized the tiny worry and the well-hidden horror she felt.

"Those are blast marks," Dahlia continued, pointing at a few craters that sat in parts of the enormous tree, crack lines spiraling away from them.  "But those are… they look like something wrapped itself around the tree."

Greldo nodded as he watched the swirling crack pattern around one part of the tree. 

"Oculitar."

"Yes, but was it before or after the burning…? It's so hard to tell, but this has to have happened months, perhaps years ago."

Greldo watched the tree while Coal, who had been lying on the deck until now, sent him some insights.

"Years," he said. "The smell of the wood has aged, according to Coal. "This happened during The Storm."

Dahlia seemed to ponder it, not reacting, while Koudi and Gloom remained quiet a few feet away quietly.

They had been traveling for over a month now, stopping for no more than a few hours at the different harbors they had reached, most of which were either desolate or somehow struggling to survive. Koudi had healed all she came across, protected by Greldo and Coal's shadows. Some of the local leaders had tried to capture her; others had attempted to promise them wealth and riches if they only went into the world. They had ignored what they could and dealt with the rest, leaving a single card of healing behind on the larger harbors that still had a few ships capable of traveling.

All of that was to rush to Scour, their target and one of the few worlds in this area of the Langost Branch that had a Central Register. All of that to find it was a burned-down husk.

"Can you sense if the exit portal is still open?" Greldo asked, looking at Dahlia.

"No. I think it's closed, but there's a lot of disturbance from the ambient soulforce."

"Alright. I'm going to try and wake Irwin then," Greldo said softly.

"That might be for the best," Dahlia muttered.

Greldo stepped into his shadow realm, appearing inside his friend's bedroom. Irwin's body, arm regenerated up to the elbow, lay motionless in the bed as it had done so for over a week since the last time he'd woken.

"Irwin?"

There was no response, and Greldo sighed as he walked closer and put his hand on Irwin's shoulder, shaking it.

It took close to half an hour, just like the last time, before the body tensed up.

“Gre… Greldo. Give me a minute.”

Greldo stepped away, watching Irwin grimace as he slowly pushed himself up. It took half a minute before his friend stood, looking like himself.

"How far are we?"

"We reached Scour's harbor," Greldo said, before sighing. "Or what's left of it? Let me show you."

Waiting for the nod, Greldo pulled them both out and onto the Nocturna's deck. Knowing his friend would need a moment, he walked to Dahlia, putting an arm around her.

--

Irwin watched the remnants of one of the largest trees on this side of the Branch, feeling sad. Long ago, when he and Greldo had moved here together with Balarn and the others, it had been a bustling place before, and he felt saddened to see what remained. Now, it was all in ruins, while the ambient soulforce that hovered around was severely drained.

"This happened years ago, perhaps ten or more," he said, focusing on the tiny inconsistency that he sensed that told him where the Exit Portal would have to be. "And the portal has likely been closed for just as long."

"Can you see if it was closed from the inside or the outside?" Greldo asked.

"No," Irwin said as he scanned for any survivors, finding none. He searched for the closest spot to the place where the Exit Portal would be and pointed at it. "It's over there."

"What do we do now?" Greldo muttered.

"I'm going to open it," Irwin said. "Then I'll go inside and check what is happening."

"Are you sure? It might be best just to leave it and continue on," Dahlia said as she looked around. 

"I can't," Irwin said, shaking his head. "I am way over half of the distance from which I can still control this body. If we continue any further, I'll be unable to try again, and I'm not sure what will happen to it. It might go dormant, or it might just vanish or be destroyed. Whichever it is, it's useless."

Greldo seemed worried, but he began maneuvering the ship to a point a few hundred feet from the tree trunk. Then he stopped, letting the runes hold it in place as he walked to Irwin.

"Can you bring me to the entrance?" Irwin asked. 

Greldo nodded, and a moment later, Irwin was moving through the shadows rapidly, watching the burned-out and hollowed corridors and chambers that were carved in the tree pass by.

The entrance room looked like it had been the center of an explosion, with the wood ripped apart and jagged. 

As Irwin appeared on the ground, Greldo beside him, he looked around as if the first time he'd been here seemed to overlay itself over the room. 

"Remain in the shadows as I open it," Irwin said, moving below where he sensed the closed Exit Portal.

"Be careful…"

Irwin just nodded, spreading his senses out to sense the resonance of the exit portal. He took a deep breath, then began resonating his cards.

It took him only a few minutes to rip open the jagged black tear, causing the Exit Portal to reform a few dozen feet above him.

Greldo immediately reappeared, looking worried.

"I'm going inside to check what happened, then come back outside to let you know what happened," Irwin said. "Don't worry. If I don't return in ten or so minutes, leave. The time dilation is so strong that it shouldn't take that long to reach it, look around, and return. So, if I'm not back by then, something bad happened."

"And I should just leave you here?" Gerldo grunted, sounding worried and annoyed.

"If I have to, I can return to my soulscape," Irwin said. "Even if I lose this body, it will eventually reform."

"That's taking into account that you don't shatter your mind," Greldo said, shaking his head. "Whatever. Be careful, and make sure to return."

Irwin grinned at his friend before turning to the portal.

Let's see what happened here, he thought as he jumped inside.