Somewhere within the Quantum Realm

  “You’re starting to get the hang of it,” Zal says as he watches his Successor, Crystal Nightshade, go about doing his job. Designing universes without actually completing anything as a sort of test run by him. “At this rate you will be fit to replace me, and I won’t have to hear him nagging anymore.”

  Crystal glances at him with a slightly irritated and slightly exasperated look on her face as she asks, “Is that really why you tried to force Lexi into becoming your Successor? And failed, might I add.”

  “Why else would I do that?” Zal asks with a frown on his face as he crosses his arms. “The Ruler wouldn’t stop bothering me, so I took the simplest route.”

  “And look where that got you,” Crystal says with an eyebrow raised.

  “Well, in the end I got my Successor, so what does that matter?” Zal asks with a shrug. “And the universe got its Reaper. Everyone’s happy.”

  “Tell that to the people dealing with that System Reset of yours,” Crystal retorts, still not lowering her brow.

  “They deserved that for what they did to me,” Zal says as his eyes narrow.

  Crystal snorts at that but doesn’t necessarily disagree with his words. She’s just upset with his dragging Alexia into it.

  And Zal knows that very well. So he doesn’t say anything else.

  The two fall silent for several minutes as Crystal continues practicing work for the Quantum Architect role and Zal just silently watches her to make sure she doesn’t make any mistakes. Which she hasn’t so far.

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  Eventually Zal speaks up though, saying, “Your daughter is finally taking on the trials again.”

  Crystal pauses for a second before continuing.

  “I think she may be underestimating the Quantum Scribe,” Zal continues while glancing in the direction of the tower, making Crystal pause again. But this time she doesn’t continue practicing immediately and looks in the same direction as him. “She’ll find that even those Quantum Beings at the bottom of the hierarchy are still Quantum Beings at the end of the day.”

  “How many tries do you think it’ll take for her to clear his trial?” Crystal asks out of curiosity, not having ever fought or even seen the Quantum Scribe herself.

  Zal taps his finger on his arm for a few seconds before eventually answering, “Six tries is my guess. Seven at the most. Not as many as it took her to beat the Architect, but still more than she likely expect.”

  Crystal continues working without saying anything for several minutes. Meanwhile Zal just stares off at the trial tower.

  But both of their thoughts are on the same thing.

  “The Quantum Scribe is the biggest headache amongst the Quantum Beings to deal with,” Zal says with a shake of his head out of nowhere. “Maybe even the biggest headache in the universe, even if he isn’t purely powerful in and of himself.”

  Crystal quietly listens to the man the universe has designated her mentor despite herself being stronger than him.

  And one thing she’s noticed about him is that he talks a lot.

  This is the first time she’s appreciative of that fact though as it gives her more information about her daughter’s current situation.

  “Unlike the rest of us Quantum Beings, the Quantum Scribe doesn’t have any particularly powerful attacks of his own,” Zal explains without taking his gaze away from the tower in the distance. “He uses his creations to overwhelm his foes and his reality altering powers to keep his foes at a distance. But when that doesn’t work? Just because he doesn’t have any powerful attacks of his own doesn’t mean he can’t fight on his own.”

  Crystal continues silently working on designing another universe as time passes with Zal staring at the tower.

  “I hope Lexi realizes this sooner rather than later,” Zal eventually mutters, making the faintest hint of a smile spread across Crystal’s face as she finally confirms that the Quantum Architect does in fact care about her daughter.

  Likely more than he himself realizes.

  And so, the silence stretches on between the two as they both worry about the Quantum Reaper and her trials.

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