Irwin licked his lips as he gazed at the card hovering above Ambraz's surface. The shadows directly below it were darker, while every other shadow in the room seemed to be flowing. A dull, muted resonance echoed from it as if a beautiful song was being played in another room.

"I…" Irwin muttered before turning to Greldo. "Are you playing with the shadows?"

His friend didn't answer, his eyes locked on the card that hovered above Ambraz. A crescent of brilliant red glistened in his dark red eyes, and Irwin knew the answer was no.

That means it's actively influencing the surroundings, he thought. The only card he'd ever seen do that before was his own first card.

"That's not the only confusing thing. Take it off so I can show you the text," Ambraz said.

Irwin hesitated, then took the hovering card, almost surprised it felt the same as all the other cards he'd ever handled.

With a flash, Ambraz turned to his small shape, and Irwin quickly put his booklet on the Ganvil. As soon as it flashed and fluttered, he grabbed it, flipping to the newest page.

Card: Scathnaicht - Blade of Shadow

Type: Diamond, Shadow, Forged by Irwin Roddington

Owner: -

The owner of a Scathnaicht blade can pull it out of any shadow. Scathnaicht blades grant their owner the ability to overcharge any shadow-type card to double its normal ability. While wielding any Scathnaicht blade, none of the Naicht-folk will harm the wielder.

Passive: Increased ability to learn blade-wielding skills while in the shadowrealm

Passive: Greatly increased agility

Active: Summon a Scathnaicht blade

Active: Condense all shadows within a hundred feet around the Scathnaicht blade to create a temporary area of pure darkness.

"Scath…naicht…" Irwin muttered, trying to speak the odd word before focusing on the other term. "What are the Naicht-folk?"

"Never heard of it," Ambraz said. "But what's more important is the rest… It gives a learning ability increase, which is rather rare, though with it only working in the shadowrealm, which limits it. More interesting, it says no harm will be given. I've never seen anything like that on a card."

Irwin hummed as Greldo stepped up beside him. His friend's eyes were narrow and had a faraway look.

"Greldo?" Irwin asked.

Greldo blinked, then shook his head, never taking his eyes off the card.

"That card… it is calling to me- calling to every shadewalker," he muttered. "I think I need to slot it before some show up."

Irwin looked at the card and examined it. It was the third blade with a shadow type he'd tried, and it had started off like the other two. Nothing odd, nothing special… Then, halfway into the reforging process, the shadows in the room had begun growing denser- more compact. At the time, he'd thought Greldo was just trying something or was bored. Now, he wasn't so sure.

"Ambraz, is it safe?" he asked, his thoughts rushing to cursed cards. Perhaps there was something wrong with it that wasn't shown in the explanation? It was based on what Ambraz knew anyway, and-

"Wait, if you don't know what Naicht-folk are, how…" Irwin waved his hands in confusion.

"Well, I've heard of them before," Ambraz snorted. "But they are just a myth. A race that was said to exist eons ago and, like many before and after, didn't survive."

Irwin was about to ask something when Greldo's hand blurred forward, and he grabbed the card before turning to the farewell of the crafting area. Coal and a dozen of his shadow clones burst out of the shadows while Irwin instinctively resummoned his hammer.

"The Naicht-folk were hunted into oblivion because they were bloodhungry, dangerous, and crazed beings," a cold, slightly oily voice said, seemingly drifting out of the shadows. A figure, tall and thin and wrapped in a long black cape, stepped out of the shadows. His movements were abnormally smooth, and just looking at him made Irwin's hair stand on end.

Although it had been many years since he'd last seen him, he recognized the being at once.

"Gloom," Greldo snapped, taking a step forward. The shadows throughout the room roiled in a way Irwin had never seen before. "How did you… wait. You told me to come here!"

The being slowly pushed its cloak back, and Irwin saw the face of the being he'd first learned of as a slaughter demon. Pale-faced and with lips too wide for a human and eyes of pure black with no pupils. A few thin scars lined its face and neck as the corners of its lips curved up.

"That was before I learned that Lasther wasn't who I believed him to be," Gloom said, his voice almost like dripping oil.

Irwin could feel his soulforce resonance, but it was muted, not unlike the card he'd just made. Thinking of the card, he frowned. Was that why Gloom had appeared? He glanced at Greldo's hand, fingers curled around the diamond card.

Gloom seemed to notice, and it laughed softly.

"I am not here for the card. Even if I could use it, Elder Nyzir would never use anything the Naicht-folk left behind."

"Why are you here?" Greldo snapped, crossing his arms as he glared at the natural shadow being.

It was clear to Irwin that Gloom hadn't had it easier after leaving Giard. Although he wasn't sure, it seemed he was still wearing the same armor, and it was even more ragged than years ago. His face was hollow, though that might just be his natural state.

Gloom was quiet before sighing.

"Because I have no other place to go," he said, his oily voice weary and saddened. "Lasther killed all of my brethren in the time I was gone, and there is nobody left. My lesser brothers have caused an inordinate amount of trouble, putting them on the kill-on-site list of the guilds, nobles, and merchants. "

Irwin frowned while Greldo snorted.

"And what? You think you can come along with us because you were so nice to us in the past?"

Gloom grimaced. "I apologize for that, but it took over three years for me to regain my complete sanity. When you found me and even after that, when we last spoke, and you gave me this name, I was-" He made a gesture where his long, nimble fingers flitted around like a bird's wings. "- very close to becoming Addled. It took years of meditating in the holy shadows to regain my mental clarity, and even now…"

Irwin saw a look of sadness flicker across the tall being's face.

"I can understand you don't trust me," Gloom continued. "I did, however, already help you. Did you not wonder why only so few of Lasther's shadewalkers attacked you?"

"You are saying you killed them?" Irwin asked.

"I did," Gloom said before frowning. "Though I didn't kill all of them. Some were being forced. Those I merely incapacitated."

"Wait, you are telling me we should believe you when you tell us you, a being we called Slaughter Demons back home, merely incapacitated some shadewalkers?" Greldo snapped, looking annoyed.

The corners of Gloom's lip curled up in a way no humans could. "Yes. My people are not just some cold-blooded killers ,those lowborn, near-addled make us out to be. Besides, to remain as far from that mental state as I can, not killing has proven… helpful."

Greldo and Irwin shared a look, and Irwin saw his friend was as confused and uncertain as he was.

"Fine, let's say we accept your apology?" Greldo asked. "Then what? Why are you here?" The last words were so forceful they seemed like an order.

"And what happened when you got here?" Irwin said. "You say Lasther killed your brethren? Then why didn't you avenge them?"

Gloom looked between them before focusing on Irwin with a slight grin.

"Just like the last time we spoke. Questions. Very well, let's start with the easy ones then," he said. "After I left Giard, I managed to sneak through Fiverio and aboard a merchant ship away from those backwaters. It took me a few years to return here, and during that trip, I found out that a lot had changed. The few shadewalkers I found were all carded, as you call them, while none of my brothers remained. I had to keep a low profile, and by the time I arrived here, I had learned that I was the last. Lasther had replaced all my brethren hundreds of years ago, and-"

"Hundreds? How old are you, and why were you even in that world shard?" Irwin asked, eyes wide.

Gloom continued, switching gears without issue.

"I am closing in on my twelve-hundredth year," he said. Seeing Irwin and Greldo's eyes widen, he shrugged. "It was easy to calculate when I knew the current year," he said. "Also, those who become true shadewalkers eventually stop aging. You will find out about that soon enough if you haven't yet."

Greldo stared at him, then glanced at Irwin, who saw a look of incredulity in his friend's eyes.

"Why don't more people get shadowcards if that is true?" Irwin asked. "There are so many people trying to find ways to extend their lives."

He pictured Gelwin, and as he did, he wondered what the ancient Galladin was doing.

"Because, except for Greldo, I have never seen any non-native from the shadowrealm as powerful as him," Gloom said. "Even with most of my strength returned, he is more powerful than I am, though he lacks finesse."

"So you are saying I'm not going to age anymore?" Greldo asked, frowning.

"Probably not, and if you still do, you will stop entirely after you get your next soulcard," Gloom said. "Many of my brethren would have probably fainted if they had learned about this!"

He laughed softly, then waited for a few moments before continuing.

"As for your other question about why I was on the shardworld? I have been searching for another true shadow world for over a thousand years, and sometimes I come across shards of Yzir'a, that which is one with the shadows."

"Yzir'a is your world?" Irwin asked hesitantly.

"Yes. It was shattered when I was a bit over a hundred years old," Gloom said. "When I reached the shardworld you found me in, I was lost to my feelings. It is a risk to those who move to one."

Irwin frowned as he looked at Ambraz. His friend and many other Ganvils had searched for remnants of their ancient world. Apparently, it wasn't an uncommon thing…

"Now," Gloom looked at Greldo. "As to why I am really here. How much do you know about the Guidar and your ancestors, the Galladin?"

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Irwin froze, staring at the Nyzir in surprise. Had it been spying on them?

"How about you tell us what you know?" Greldo asked, looking annoyed.

"The Guidar are a species from a distant section of the Portal Gallery that attacked our part of the Portal Gallery far in the past," Gloom said, seeming unbothered by the request. "Exact years are hard to come by as many texts had been either destroyed or hidden, and I had to find the shadow books that drift through the library to find anything concrete."

Shadow books? And how did he circumvent the issues Gelwin warned us about? Irwin held back more questions, but he was determined to figure out what was going on.

"From what I can tell, it was at a minimum a hundred thousand years, but more likely longer," Gloom said. "They were held back by the Great Portal Faction Alliance, an alliance of many empires, one of which was the Galladin. The war was… incredible. Initially, the Alliance was pushed back. The books say that the Guidar had more than one soulskill and far more soulforce, allowing them to overpower the defenses and shatter hundreds of worlds. The war had three parts, and the first part continued until the Galladin managed to find a way to gain the soulskill that grants handcards. After that, there was a period of calm, and many of the texts speak of a near peace. Without dates, it is hard to say, but I think it lasted for a long time, hundreds of thousands of years. During this time-" Gloom looked at them intently. "-the Galladin somehow interbred with many if not all of the races of the Alliance, and every one of their offspring gained the handcards."

He knows a lot, Irwin thought, and he wondered how he could get his hands on these shadow books. He was sure that Daubutim would wish to read them, as more information on what happened back then was better than less.

"It took me a year of scouring the more dangerous areas of that horrid place to find a shadow shard that held books of less savory nature," Gloom said. He grimaced. "They alluded to how the Galladin managed this and how they changed their own species in such a way that they could procreate with nearly every single other species. I would prefer not to think or speak of that for now, but we can discuss this later in more depth if you must know."

Irwin grimaced, shaking his head while he heard Greldo grunt a few curses under his breath.

"Either way, it is likely that my own people could mingle with the Galladin," he said. "It would gain us the ability to slot handcards, something I am not sure what to make of, but-"

Greldo hissed, taking a step back.

"You want to revive your people by having children with Galladin women?"

Gloom quietly looked back, then sighed. "First off, at least that shows there should be Galladin Maidens alive, which is good, but can you not make it sound horrible? I am a resourceful, powerful being with the ability to generate enough safety and resources for a dozen females to live comfortable lives."

Irwin looked at Gloom in stunned silence while Greldo made choking sounds.

"Is there something wrong?" Gloom asked with a frown that pressed his bushy black eyebrows together.

"What's not wrong with this?" Greldo snapped. "I don't think there are a lot of women who would be happy sharing their soulmate, and even if they did, I don't believe any of them would want to be with a Nyzir! Your kind is used to scare children!"

Gloom's eyes seemed to gleam as his lips curved up. "I think you might be wrong," he said. "I have found that most females of other races, especially those that resemble yours, enjoy my company."

Irwin blinked, staring at the Elder Nyzir and taking a really good look at him. Between his sickly pale skin that was almost translucent, his completely black eyes that didn't give you an idea what he was even looking at, and, worse, his oily, horrific voice, he wasn't sure he believed the Nyzir.

"Well, whatever," Greldo said, letting out a soft growl. "I-"

Irwin was sure he was going to tell Gloom to just beat it, and he was about to stop him. If Gloom had more information, they needed to get their hands on it. Before he could, Gloom raised his hand.

"If you allow me to come along, I can tell you-" He pointed at Irwin. "-how to change Greldo's cards to create something far more powerful than you could get if you continue as you are now. I can also help you in your fight against the Guidar."

Greldo's mouth snapped shut, and his teeth clicked together like a trap.

"Explain what you mean," Irwin said before adding, "Also, how could you help us if you couldn't even kill Lasther?"

"I can sense Greldo's presence in the shadowrealm and the changes since the first time I saw him. Also, I can feel that card and have a good idea of what will happen if he slots it. With what I learned about how your kind creates heartcards, I have a reasonable idea of what you will try, and I have another suggestion," Gloom said calmly. Then he hesitated and frowned. "I might not be able to kill one as powerful as Lasther, but that was due to his specific abilities, which were very potent against Shadewalkers, likely due to his position here. I don't believe most Guidar would have those abilities prepared, and that means I should be able to assassinate them."

"Prepared?" Ambraz asked, butting in for the first time.

Irwin had wanted to ask the same thing.

"I was able to observe Lasther a few times until he figured out I was around, and he nearly killed me," Gloom said. "Another bit of information I would bargain for allowing me to come with you."

Irwin didn't really think the card would make much of a difference as he was secure in his own abilities, but if Gloom could tell them more about how Guidar changed their skills, that would be worth a lot.

"I can also tell you where the best shadewalker cards in the city are and who is hiding them," Gloom added, almost offhandedly.

Irwin hesitated, then looked at Greldo.

"Let's discuss this in private for a moment," he said.

Greldo seemed to understand what he meant and took a step toward him, taking his arm.

Irwin pulled him into his soulscape while Ambraz moved of his own volition. Coal and his shadow clones stalked closer to Gloom, who raised his hands.

"I will stay here," he said.

Irwin noticed a glimmer of fear as he stared at Coal. He remained where he was, observing the Nyzir while his otherself spoke with Greldo and Ambraz.

-- Within Irwin's Soulscape --

"I don't think we should trust him," Greldo said, hanging back on the couch. "Just being around him gives me the creeps."

"Is that because he's a Nyzir or something with the shadowrealm?" Irwin asked.

"Nyzir," Greldo said. "I'll never forget my time hunting those shardworlds. It was horrendous."

"You aren't wrong, but that doesn't mean we can't bring him along," Ambraz countered.

Irwin had an idea what he was alluding to, but motioned him to continue.

"If we don't bring him, we will either have to kill him or worry that he is following us," Ambraz said.

"No way," Greldo denied, shaking his head. "There is no way he can follow me through the shadowrealm. He isn't fast enough."

"He doesn't need to be fast if he knows where we are heading," Ambraz said. "Also, you seem very sure about that… who is to say he isn't hiding some ability? He has over a thousand years of experience as a shadewalker. Just because he says you are stronger doesn't mean you should believe him."

Greldo opened his mouth to say something, then hesitated and closed it.

"You have a point," he said, looking annoyed.

"Of course I do," Ambraz said, his metal lips curved up in a wide grin. "Besides, from what I can sense of him, he hasn't lied."

"Wait, you can tell if someone is lying now?" Greldo and Irwin exclaimed in a jumble of words.

"Remember when I told you that I was growing too fast?" Ambraz asked with a sense of pride.

"Yes?"

"Well, what do you think happened when you started creating, breaking, and reforging all those heartcards the last month? I had too much energy and needed to do something with it. I am not yet ready to go to the next rank. Besides, I don't think any Ganvil currently alive has been able to condense themselves down with as much pure soulforce as I have been doing. I'm going to continue until I feel I can't push it anymore."

"Condense yourself?" Irwin asked.

"It's something that all Ganvils do as they accumulate purified soulforce, but usually, as soon as they have enough for their rank-up, they do so quickly before it starts leaking away," Ambraz said, grinning widely. "But with your recent improvements, I'm getting so much that I have enough to condense my entire essence beyond the minimal limit."

"Is that normal?" Irwin asked, wondering if that was why Brazardian and the others had managed to reach ranks seven and eight.

"No. I didn't even know it was possible until I had pooled up so much purified soulforce that even the leakage couldn't stop me from being stuffed. Shortly after that, I started feeling it happen naturally. It's why I had to sleep so much. But this isn't what's important now," Ambraz said. "I think we should bring him."

"Why?" Irwin asked. "Because he hasn't lied?"

"That too," Ambraz said. "But mostly because he's going to be coming after us, and he is the last of his kind."

Irwin shared a look with Greldo, noticing the same slight confusion in his friend's eyes. Ambraz's words made some sense, but was it worth the risk of bringing along someone who had once tried to kill them and who was a more powerful version of an incredibly dangerous type of demon?

"There's more, isn't there?" he asked.

Ambraz was quiet for so long that Irwin was almost going to ask again.

"Yes and no," Ambraz said, sounding sad. "I can sense his pain at losing his world, and it makes me think about the Ganvil origin world. But, if I had noticed him lying or thought he was a threat, that wouldn't have been important."

Irwin stared at his Ganvil bond and friend, suddenly remembering something. Ambraz had been stuck in one of Gelwin's fake shardworlds for many years, but he'd initially been on a search for traces of… Dréimire. It took him a few moments to recall the Ganvil homeworld. He'd not really spoken about it much recently, not after they had found Eluathar, and Irwin had promised to give the Ganvils one of the adjacent worlds.

"We can bring him, but I need to ask him some questions first," Greldo said. "Also, I don't like his plan of trying to create a hybrid Nyzir… what if they turn out like the demon version?"

Irwin nodded. He didn't like that either.

"If we return, we can warn your shades about it," he said. "Besides, after we return, it's unlikely we will be leaving anytime soon."

Just saying that made Irwin smile widely. Even if there was a massive war brewing, and he had no idea how to stop that, just heading back would be fantastic.

"Fine, let me out so I can ask him a few questions," Greldo said. "Ambraz, make sure he isn't lying."

"Of course."

Irwin ejected them out of his soulscape and focused on his otherself.

-- Real-world --

Gloom stared at Greldo and Irwin calmly.

"If we bring you along, will you do nothing to obstruct us?" Greldo asked, looking at the Nyzir.

"I will never do anything to harm you or obstruct you," Gloom said, and Irwin wondered how he could see the hope burning in the black eyes. Was it just a figment of his imagination?

"Will you do everything in your power to help us?" Greldo asked, leaning forward.

"Yes!"

"And if none of the women like you, you won't force the issue?"

Gloom's face turned stunned, then almost slightly angry.

"I would never force myself," he snapped.

Somehow, his anger made Irwin feel a lot better. It felt true. Greldo nodded at him.

'He didn't lie one time,' Ambraz said.

"Fine," Irwin said. "You can come. Let's start by you telling me what you mean by Greldo's card should go in another direction?"

This time, the look of pure relief on Gloom's face was easy to see, even if it only lasted for a moment.

"Can you sense this?" he asked.

Irwin noticed a peculiar resonance in Gloom's soulforce, and he relaxed his hold on his last card, causing the soulforce of everything present to amplify manifold. The dark, shadowy typed soulforce swirled around Greldo like a gaseous vortex of resonance waves, while the same was true for Gloom, though to a far less extreme amount. It wound down from what it had been doing, and Irwin only caught the last part.

"Again."

The same resonance pattern began, but this time, he sensed the incredibly complex patterns in it. At the same time, he felt how it diverged from what Greldo was doing, like a song with two endings. His current direction would eventually end slow, dark, and deep, like a bottomless hole, while the song Gloom was heading in would be like a dark wave in the sea that crashed down on whatever was around it.

"Why-"

Irwin stopped as he sensed it again and plotted it on the card he'd just made and the heartcard he'd been planning to make. Unbeknownst to himself, he began humming, and he only realized and snapped out of it when he sensed the beautiful, coherent whole the song would create. It wasn't that what he'd been building before was wrong, but the direction Gloom had shown him was…

'Incredible,' Ambraz whispered.

"How?" Irwin asked, looking up only to find that the Nyzir wasn't where he'd been.

Instead, Gloom and Greldo sat at one side of the room and looked up. Irwin had no idea when they had moved away or what they had been talking about, but Greldo seemed less on edge.

"That card-" Gloom said, pointing at the card Greldo still held. "When I was younger, there was a Shadowlord with an ability that was very similar to it. He was one of the most powerful of my kind, and what I showed you was how his soulskill felt when he employed it."

Irwin nodded as he looked at Greldo.

"He's right. The choice is up to you, but-"

"I'll let you decide," Greldo said before grinning. "Just make sure to remember what my goal is?"

Irwin nodded as he walked forward and held out his hand.

"I need to reforge the card sideways a few times," he said.

Greldo hesitated, then handed him the card.

"Just… don't break it?"

Irwin snorted as he walked to the center of the room.

"You two just make sure I don't get disturbed," he grunted.

--

Gloom sat with his back against the wall, wondering how his life had changed. He hadn't expected things to go as well as they had, though he wasn't complaining. Just knowing there were Galladin females alive somewhere meant that his kind wasn't completely dead.

Besides, even if they were, perhaps our legacy can live on, he thought, glancing at the powerful shadewalker beside him. He wasn't as powerful as a shadowlord yet, but he would probably reach that point sooner or later.

Afraid the other might think something into it, he quickly focused back on where the giant smith was working on the card. The swirling shadows and the fluctuations he sensed in the shadowrealm reminded him of better times long ago.

Deciding that if the two had wanted to kill him, they would have tried by now, he closed his eyes and let himself enjoy the condensation of the shadowrealm to a point beyond any he had felt since his world had been lost.

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