Irwin quietly looked at the Guildmaster, trying to figure out what she was saying. There was no way she could know about The Galadin or Eluathar, so what did she mean by 'your people? Even the talk about the worldcard was suddenly forgotten. He tried to come up with a proper answer, failed, and eventually settled for the only thing that came to him.

  "What do you mean?"

  Mei was quietly observing him for a few moments before leaning back thoughtfully.

  "I'm sorry for springing this on you," she said." But between that tiny ship of yours, which is obviously incapable of traveling through the storm, and your incredible skill, it is obvious you are not just some random nobody from the fringes of this already backwater branch. I presume you have a larger ship or multiple with others waiting for you when you leave here?"

  Irwin was a little stunned by the odd leaps she'd made, and it took him a moment to calm down. Luckily, having nearly all of his two selves' full focus available, his mind worked at far above normal speed. As he went through what had happened the last few days and put himself in The Guildmaster's shoes, he slowly started understanding why she would come to this conclusion.

  Which left him with a problem.

  Should he tell her anything more than he had? No. But that meant he would either have to agree with her, which was a lie, or come up with another reason.

  Wait… is it really a lie?

  His mind worked a thousand miles a second, and an idea formed. She already believed he was one of a group of people, which was true. She just didn't know about the Galladin, but did she need to know? He didn't think she knew. If she did ask for more, he could just refuse to answer. Besides that, she asked if they would help her, which might prove to be a problem because, unless Daubutim had managed miracles, they would likely have a hard time helping themselves.

  That left having a ship out in the chaos storm to bring him away. He didn't have one, but there was no easy solution to that.

  As everything settled in his mind, he let out a weary sigh. He saw the Guildmaster lean forward, probably anticipating that he was going to speak.

  "I can't answer all of that," he said, honestly. "Let's start with the ship. There isn't one. We are here because my first mate, Rindiri, had a ship here. That's the one we will be taking back."

  The Guildmaster frowned. "So someone just left you here?"

  "Something like that," Irwin said. He waited for a moment to see if she would ask anything else or say something about the ship Rindiri had brought, but Mei remained quiet.

  "Now, I'm not going to tell you anything about where I am from, but to answer your question, we aren't currently able to help you."

  He waited to see how she would react and was surprised when she leaned forward, eyes widening.

  "Is that why we haven't been attacked yet?" Mei asked, her eyes widening. "It is, isn't it? Your people are blocking them at the far end of the branch! I read about some blockade made by some renegade Galubs a few years ago, and I thought that was odd. Why would they be going here, risking tangling with the defense fleet… but now it makes sense! They were fleeing from your people."

  It took every ounce of Irwin's self-control not to gape at her leaps of logic.

  Mei didn't seem to notice as she leaned forward, elbows on her knees, and stared at the ground.

  "So that's why we are one of the few outer branches that haven't been overrun…"

  Irwin frowned at that.

  "Are you saying that all others have been taken over by the Guidar?" he asked.

  The Guildmaster shook her head. "I don't know if all have been, but many. That includes those closest to us."

  Irwin took a deep breath, juggling all the things he'd just heard. Mei looked at him intently, and he knew she wanted some reaction from him. Before she could have one, he needed some more answers, though.

  "Are you saying we might be attacked from through the corridor connecting us to the Tweelak branch?"

  Mei barked a laugh, which surprised Irwin as their discussion wasn't lighthearted, and his question wasn't either.

  "No," she said, grinning at him. "From what I know, they don't have the forces to take on an older branch like the Tweelak branch. Even though it isn't a central one, they have at least a dozen portal-guardian-class ships and hundreds of hunter-class ships. With tens of thousands of four-soulcarded warriors stationed around their corridors, I don't think they will be in trouble yet."

  Irwin frowned, slightly confused. If the Tweelak branch was this powerful, why couldn't they just send help?

  Mei seemed to misinterpret his confused look and smiled.

  "I can see why that would seem odd, especially as the Tweelak branch used to be an outer branch world. The thing is, the Tweelak branch is one of the most well-guarded branches this far out. After the Kraniox Caorthanach poured out of their exit portal into the Portal Gallery and nearly devastated the entire branch, the Hegliron's Second, a central branch enforcement garrison, came to crush them. After that, the survivors, led by the Viridians, began amassing large defensive forces and positioned them at the four known branch corridors."

  "And some of the outer branches beyond those corridors are overrun?" Irwin asked slowly, trying to piece together what she'd said.

  "The other three have been," Mei said.

  "So… if they are this powerful, why doesn't the Tweelak just go into the overrun branches and retake them?" Irwin asked with a frown.

  The Guildmaster's smile turned ugly. "I haven't been told that, but I can guess. It is probably because they don't feel it's worth it. All corridors that lead further away from the Tweelak branch have led to rather… underwhelming branches. Not a single truly useful resource has been found after a thousand years of searching."

  Irwin looked to the side, staring at the wall of his giant house.

  It was the same everywhere, and he wondered why he was even surprised. Long ago, when he'd been on Giard, the guards stationed around the capital had only cleared out the portals there, leaving the smaller cities and towns to clean up around them. The merchants hadn't been willing to hand over their cards to help the other guards and rangers, only doing so when forced by Lord Bron. He had seen similar things in other worlds he'd been to, with Scour's small town needing to fend for themselves when the attack had happened.

  He suddenly thought about the sorcerers, back on Giard, in a kinder light. Although some had been corrupt and willing to let young people die in the towers, fake training portals just to harvest cards, most had been fighting for the greater good, trying to prevent the small area of Giard that hadn't been overrun from being overrun.

  "There's nothing we can do to help the other adjacent outer branches," Mei said, drawing Irwin's attention back to The Guildmaster.

  She was looking at him quietly. "Just know that we don't have to worry about any attacks through the corridor here or at Dimarintsia… At least not yet. As long as your people can keep their attack away from the other side, we should be fine for a while."

  Irwin nodded slowly, a sudden worry growing in the pit of his stomach. What if this was really what was happening? What if Eluathar was constantly under siege, being attacked by The Shackled, the first wave of armies under the control of the Guidar?

  We need to head back…

  He turned his attention to Mei, filled with a sudden desire to grab everyone, find Rindiri's ship, and start the long journey back.

  "Why did you ask for help with the war?" he asked. "If there is no fear from The Tweelak branch…"

  Mei sighed, rubbing her head. "There are many parts of our branch that haven't been explored yet. The chance of those Guidar finding a way around your people's defenses isn't something we can dismiss."

  Irwin stared at her for a bit, knowing there was nothing he could promise her for real. He didn't even know what was happening around Eluathar, and with Scintilla and his kids either still en route or having arrived, he wanted to head out.

  "I will ask," he said, raising his hand when The Guildmaster seemed ready to say something. "It is the best I can do. Also, I need you to return Rindiri's ship. We need to leave as soon as possible so I can relay the information you just gave me."

  The Guildmaster sat back, her face going emotionless as she seemed to fall into a deep introspection.

  Irwin watched her while splitting his selves back up to allow more awareness to reach his other body.

  --

  Irwin put the glass down at the bar, turning to Greldo. He was glad he could leave his growing worry with his giantself, allowing this part of him to think clearly. Still, as he met Greldo's gaze, he saw his friend's eyes narrow.

  "Go and find Rindiri and the others and prepare them to leave," he said. "I'll explain later, but we are going to cut our stay here a bit short."

  Greldo held his gaze, then nodded, vanishing into the shadows.

  Irwin turned to Teacher Parka, who was looking at him, raising an eyebrow in surprise.

  "Everything alright?"

  "The Guildmaster has been filling me in about how the war is doing in the other outer branches," Irwin said. "And based on that, it's time we leave. Can you get Rindiri's ship ready?"

  Parka blinked, seemingly stunned for a moment. Then she grimaced.

  "Even if Mei and Oldman Seizer allow that, it might prove… troublesome."

  "How so?" Irwin asked, getting a bad feeling. Although he didn't really need the ship to get back home, if there was a war going on around Eluathar, he wanted to bring anything that might help back.

  "Our carded-crafters have taken it apart to find out what weaknesses it has," Parka said. "Getting it back together, if that's even possible, will probably take weeks…"

  Irwin glared at his drink.

  "That ship belongs to us," he said, knowing that was a stretch as it was technically Rindiri's spoils of war.

  Parka shrugged as she poured both of them another drink.

  "I've got no say in these things, sorry. The best I can tell you is that there might be a few ships in the city that are roughly equal to it."

  Irwin nodded, sipping his drink and focusing his attention back on his giantself. As he did, he felt Ambraz join him in his soulscape, appearing outside of the building

  --

  The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  Mei kept her face neutral, and her eyes glazed over as she quietly tried to come up with what to do. Irwin was still watching her, and she could see that his intensity was increasing.

  There's something going on, she thought, replying to the previous conversation.

  Initially, he'd been calm and collected, but as soon as they started talking about his people, he'd suddenly become tense. Was it because there would be no help from the Tweelak branch? Perhaps he'd expected help to come from there?

  Wait, is that why they were here? To come to us for help?

  The thought carried a sudden increase in worry with it as she realized that her assumption of a potentially powerful ally might have been too quick. What if Irwin's people were barely holding on? No, that made no sense. He'd shown very little worry initially, seeming perfectly fine with staying for a few days.

  Had that all been an act?

  Now, he wanted the ship, which she couldn't give back even if she wanted to. There had been some sort of odd rune in the prow, which the woodshapers had unearthed and inadvertently destroyed. Between that and the fact that it was completely dismantled and spread out across the crafter's quarters and the smiths' guild…

  Her mind moved to the only two ships she had available, both meant as a last resort for her and the highest-ranked and skilled smiths to return to the Tweelak branch. If she handed him one of those, that meant if the war came here, a hundred of her people would have to be left behind…

  No. As much as I want his help, I can't take that risk.

  She sighed, knowing she would have to go to the Ruadh'trom to ask for one of their ships, knowing full well the price they would ask of her. Reforge ten of their young ones' heartcards, all at diamond rank… a chore that would not only cost her a month but would result in angering the old man if she failed one of them.

  He would make me pay for the cards that they spent filling any heartcard I fail, she thought.

  It would put even more stress on the smiths' guild, but-

  She looked at Irwin, knowing she would pay the price. If his people were able to hold back the Guidar, it would buy her the time she needed to create a stronger defense. Maybe.

  "Rindiri's ship is both dismantled and partially broken due to the research we did on it," she said honestly.

  Irwin's face didn't change much, and she guessed he'd already known. Seeing as he calmly waited for her to continue made her choice even easier.

  "I can most likely get a replacement ship from the Ruadh'trom family, but it will take at least a day. It will also likely be less capable…"

  The giant's face darkened slightly, but he was still quiet. Why was he so hard to read? He was barely more than a child, not even half a century old compared to her ten centuries. Was it because he resembled her people just enough for her to think she could read him, only to be different enough to confuse her senses?

  "I will reimburse you the difference with cards," she said, wishing she didn't have to. At his rank, just some simple cards would likely not interest him, meaning she'd have to dig deep into the guild's coffers.

  Irwin nodded slowly, crossing his arms.

  "I require large quantities of quartz cards, preferably those that deal with fire, metal, sound, steam, kinetic energy, and soulforce in any way."

  Mei held back a weary sigh as she tried to remember which high-quality cards with those types she still had. There weren't that many, as most of the cards here dealt with wood, plants, growth, nature, water, mist, and wind. She had some of her own left, but-

  Wait.

  "Does it matter how special these cards are?" she asked, cocking her head. "Or do you just need bulk?"

  "Mainly bulk, though I could do with a few special ones dealing with kinetic energy and soulforce."

  Mei nodded slowly. Although it would mean the quartz-rank and amethyst-rank smiths would have less variety for at least a year or two, she still had a large amount of some of those types for training purposes.

  "How many are we talking about?" she asked.

  "How many do you have?"

  Mei raised her eyebrow, wondering if he was serious.

  "How about a hundred of each type except for soulforce," she said.

  She saw him freeze, and a moment later, a frown came to his face. Perhaps she should have offered more. She hesitated. Should she increase her offer? No. Best to wait and see what his demands were.

  "I was hoping for… some more," Irwin said slowly, his face unreadable again.

  Mei raised an eyebrow, remaining quiet. She'd always hated this part of her job, where she had to make deals. Usually, she let others do it, but that wasn't an option now, and it wasn't like she hadn't learned a lot in her long life. Still, as he remained quiet, just looking at her, she felt her annoyance rise.

  Finally, after what felt like ten minutes but was probably only half, she realized he wasn't going to say anything.

  "How many did you have in mind?" she asked.

  "How many cards is Rindiri's ship worth?" he said, causing her to frown.

  "You are going to get a replacement ship," she said.

  "Yes, but you said it wouldn't be as good."

  Mei cursed herself. She should have just kept that part to herself and dealt with it at the last possible moment when he'd been on the point of leaving.

  "Just tell me what you had in mind," she said, barely able to keep the annoyance out of her voice.

  She saw his eyes widen before he blinked.

  "A thousand of each type and ten special ones."

  Mei almost let out a shouted curse. Did he think they were a central smithing guild? She barely had that many cards split across every type! It took her a moment to regain her calm, and staring at his eyes, she wondered if she'd underestimated him again. His confused look didn't blend with his request… was he actually also some shrewd merchant?

  Fine, let's get this over with, she thought, steeling herself for a horrible round of price negotiations.

  --

  Irwin swallowed as Mei got up, seeing she was visibly weary and annoyed. They had been haggling for at least half an hour, though saying they weren't exactly true.

  'Hah! Look at her sour face. That will teach her to call Ganvils tools!"

  Irwin held back a weary grin of his own, wondering when Ambraz had learned to haggle like this. Perhaps he'd been talking with Boohm?

  "Fine. I'll go and get you your ship as fast as I can," Mei said. "I'll also have your…" she seemed to hold back a growl. "... cards, brought to you for you to inspect."

  Irwin nodded, almost feeling guilty. If it wasn't that the Smiths guild had been planning on taking Rindiri's ship without reimbursing her, he might have stopped Ambraz at some point. As it was, he was glad he hadn't. They would be getting seventeen hundred cards, half of which would be either fire, metal, sound, steam, or kinetic energy. The rest would be at the Guildmaster's discretion, but even if she got him close to fourteen hundred useless cards, he knew they would allow many of the smiths back home to practice and become more proficient.

  "Could you let me leave, please?"

  Irwin held back a sheepish smile as he nodded and pushed the Guildmaster out of his soulscape while moving most of his own presence into his other body.

  A moment later, the two of them were back in the bar.

  "Ah, Guildmas-"

  Parka stopped talking as Guildmaster Joulihn glared at her.

  "Parka, go to the card library and take out seventeen hundred cards. Half must be of fire, metal, sound, steam, kinetic energy, with as much of an equal split as you can get."

  Irwin saw the Onyxian's face go slack, her eyes widening.

  "Mei?" she stuttered, her gaze going from the Guildmaster to Irwin and back. "That's-"

  "A lot! I know! Now go while I get Smith Irwin here a replacement ship," the Guildmaster said.

  Irwin wondered exactly how much of the Smithsguild's store they were plundering, but as he thought about a potential war raging around Eluather, he felt any sympathy he had left for the situation fading.

  I'll still need to see if Driseog can get me more cards, he thought, almost missing how Parka stared at him in awe before she ran off.

  "I'll find you at the building you are staying at as soon as I have the ship," the Guildmaster said before draining her entire drink in a single gulp and walking out.

  Irwin looked around the now-empty bar, rubbing his chin. Should he leave right away or wait for Greldo?

  "Coal?" he whispered.

  Almost immediately, a massive shadowhound appeared beside him.

  "Let Greldo know I'm heading back to our room," he said.

  The hound bobbed its large head up and down before disappearing again.

  Once more alone, Irwin looked at the bottles and shrugged. He grabbed the massive bottle that Parka had used to fill his glasses, turned around, and walked away. Then he stopped, cocked his head, and looked back at the bar as he thought of something.

  A small grin came to his face as he turned back.

  --

  A few hours later, Irwin was lying in his bed, staring at his booklet in slight disbelief.

  Card: Anthem of the Havoc Tempest

  Type: Storm, Area, Diamond, Reforged by Irwin Roddington

  Owner: -

  A unique card that binds the wielder to the essence of storms. The wielder of this card has inherent control over natural storms and can use song to command them, riling them up or calming them down.

  Passive: Greatly increased dexterity and agility

  Passive: Resistance to thunder and lightning

  Passive: Awareness and control over nearby storms

  Active: Create a storm [Size depends on the wielder's soulforce]

  Active: Limited flight while within a storm being controlled by the wielder

  "This isn't normal," he muttered.

  "No," Ambraz grunted, flying another round. "But it's going to be a great addition to Daubutim's cards."

  Irwin exhaled explosively before nodding. Ambraz was right. If he handed this to Daubutim…

  "But he doesn't have a diamond rank soulcard," he said, grimacing. "He wouldn't be able to use it properly."

  Putting the book on his chest, he stared at the ceiling, thinking about something that had slowly begun circulating through his mind for a while now. While he had the highest possible cards and thus a high potential, his two best friends, Greldo and Daubutim, didn't. Daubutim, at least still had a Ruby-ranked first heartcard, but Greldo… Greldo was stuck at Emerald.

  "Do you think we can redo soulcards?" he asked.

  Ambraz landed on his chest atop the booklet and let out a snort.

  "Why not? You are already able to do things I've never heard about, redoing entire heartcards," the Ganvil said before snorting. "But before you start worrying about that, I think we have another chat we need to have."

  Irwin focused on Ambraz, raising an eyebrow as he felt Ambraz vanish into his soulcape. Putting the booklet there, he focused on his giantself.

  ~ Irwin's soulscape ~

  "So…?" Irwin asked as he stepped away from the large library-like bookcase on the balcony of his large room. Ambraz landed before him in the middle of what looked like a miniature library with shelves, tables, and chairs.

  "Worldcards," Ambraz said, excitement growing in his voice. "I was listening, and-"

  "Wait, you can listen inside my soulspace without being here?" Irwin exclaimed, sitting up and hurling Ambraz across the room.

  "HEY!"

  "Sorry," Irwin said, grinning at the angry scowl on Ambraz's face.

  A minute later, they were back in their previous positions, Ambraz grumbling in annoyance.

  "Yes, I can listen to things being said here," the Ganvil grumbled. "Our soulforce is already so synchronized that it's just a little bit of effort to focus on where you are, though there being two of you does give me what you'd probably call a headache."

  Irwin hummed thoughtfully.

  "Stop humming and just think," Ambraz snapped. "Don't you remember…? Worldcards?"

  Irwin frowned, trying to follow what Ambraz was talking about.

  "Yes?" he said.

  "You do remember we heard about those… right?" Ambraz asked, almost desperately.

  "Of course I do," Irwin said. "Those Acenti, what's her name, told us about them."

  “Lajija, and yes,” Ambraz said. "They said they see soulcards as a worldskill seed or something like that."

  "Exactly," Irwin said. "A worldskill. We thought that she meant a worldcard, but that's obviously not the same."

  "Oh? And why not?" Ambraz asked, his mouth curling up in a grin.

  "Because it's what? Something similar to a Worldanvil, but then a skill someone has that causes them to be stuck on one world forever after?" Irwin said. "She didn't even really call them that!"

  "No, what it is is the closest thing we have to an idea of what Worldcards are," Ambraz said. "And if we combine that with the massive Titan card…!"

  Irwin looked at the Ganvil, trying to understand why he was so excited. Yes, the massive Titan card has been interesting, potentially even incredibly exciting, but it was also useless right now. The same went for some skill that would apparently give someone a lot of power, but also keep them locked in a single world.

  "And?" he asked.

  "And we need power to survive whatever those Guidar are going to do, right? Power that the ancient Galadins didn't have… what if they didn't know about these things? Yes, someone might be locked in a world, but if they are as powerful as Lajija said, we could at least secure Eluathar.

  Irwin blinked, wondering if his mind was just too weary from the last few days or had been shocked too much.

  Ambraz was right…

  "Of course I am," Ambraz said.

  "What?" Irwin asked, blinking in confusion. He'd not said anything, had he?

  "Don't bother. I could see it on your face. You were thinking I was right, weren't you?"

  Irwin rolled his eyes and focused on the Ganvil.

  "Fine, so what do you suggest we do? We can't go to that gas giant. We have to go home and see if they are alright," he said.

  "I agree," Ambraz said soothingly. "But I think we should do a bit of hunting while we go there."

  This time, it took Irwin only a moment to understand what he meant.

  "You want to capture more of those Acenti," he exclaimed.

  Common = Quartz, Uncommon = Amethyst, Rare = Topaz, Very Rare = Emerald, Epic = Ruby, Legendary = Diamond, Mythical = Ammolite