“So that’s how it is. The future’s packed with curiosities.” He smiled, fingers skimming his jaw like a compass over an uncharted coast.
“Curiosities? People are about to die,” Eli said, flat as cold rain on stone.
“Come on. For me, that’s fun.” He shrugged, like a leaf shrugging wind.
“Then let’s end our talk here.” Eli set his teacup down; steam curled up like morning mist off a river.
“Mm. Looks that way.” He took Eli’s cup. A globe of water dropped from the air like a clear moon. He slipped everything into it, waved, and it all vanished like a tide.
“Nice flex,” Eli muttered, a crooked smile like a knife’s glint.
“Oh, not at all.” He smiled, pride flickering like a lantern behind his eyes.
Eli rolled his eyes and pointed at the door, the gesture sharp as a spearpoint. “Not seeing you out.”
“Sure.” He nodded, yet stayed, gaze pinned to Eli like a nail in wood.
“What? Need me to escort you?” Eli arched a brow, temper simmering like summer heat.
Is this guy asking for it?
“No. I just thought—want to see how I create life?” He paused, as if tasting snow on his tongue.
“Huh? You’d let me?”
“Of course. I’m bored without company. The one you’re waiting for won’t show in this slice of time. Come drift the cosmos with me.” He grinned, bright as a comet.
“Alright then. Didn’t peg you for the lonely type, Zero,” Eli said, smiling like a fox.
“Zero?” His brow creased, a ripple over still water.
“What, that’s not your name?” Eli blinked, surprise rising like a bird.
He frowned, then laughed. “No name. You kept saying ‘you, you, you.’ Good enough. I’ll take Zero.”
Eli stared, speechless, while something unnamable trembled inside him like a plucked string. He couldn’t catch where it led.
“Let’s go. Can you fly?” Zero’s smile was a rising sun.
“No problem. Let’s roll.” Power surged through Eli; blue energy touched the cosmos and pulled him free like a kite in open wind.
Zero nodded. “Good. Saves me some strength.” His voice drifted like a light breeze.
They shared a grin. Zero blinked to Eli’s side and shot off, his body a falling star cutting the dark.
Eli’s mouth twitched. “Hey! Wait up!” His shout rang like iron on iron.
He yanked at his power and sped after him, a blue flare chasing gold through night.
Two streaks carved a line across space: one gold, one blue, like twin dragons in a sea of ink.
The universe was a vault of perfect black, so their light burned like torches in a cave.
Zero led, feeling the surrounding void stir and warp around the glow, a smile curving like a crescent moon.
Eli wants to rewrite fate. That’s delightful. Shame the future me will be his biggest wall. Also delightful. His thoughts drifted like smoke.
For now, I can do very little. But this credit—this honor—I can hand to him. A quiet vow settled like frost.
The achievement of birthing a universe. Enough for a one-time bailout from the rules when death closes in, he mused, lips tilting like a blade.
“Hurry. If you’re late, I’ll drop you in the void and let you fend for yourself. Hahaha.” His laugh rolled like thunder.
“You bastard!” Eli snarled, anger flaring like a grassfire.
He forced his power higher. It bucked like a wild horse and almost tore him apart.
Blood rose; he swallowed it like hot wine, then matched Zero’s pace, steady as a heartbeat.
Zero shot him a look of approval, brief and warm as winter sun, and said nothing. He arrowed toward his chosen place.
After they crossed the span of several stars, Zero eased to a halt, hands clasped behind him like an old lord at a balcony.
Eli coasted in. Zero sighed. “Not good. At your speed, when would we get there?” His head shook like a slow pendulum.
“You—damn it—maybe don’t park your lab island so far,” Eli panted, breath ragged like torn cloth.
He stood, hands on hips, blood and qi surging like a storm tide. The chase toward lightspeed had nearly unraveled him.
“See? You’re too weak. For me, this is a trip to my own bathroom.” Zero sighed, regret soft as ash. “At this rate, even millennia won’t get you there.”
“Easy for you to say,” Eli grumbled, an eye-roll sharp as a thrown pebble.
“Alright, alright. I’ll give you a lift.” Zero shrugged, casual as drifting snow.
He glanced back at their twin trails of light, nodded, as if measuring with a ruler of moonbeams.
Then he tapped Eli’s shoulder, light as a falling petal, and they vanished like sparks.
A blizzard of wild energies burst before Eli. He couldn’t see the shape of anything, only colors crashing like waves.
Next instant, Zero made a welcoming gesture. “Welcome to my lab—and the wellspring of all life in this universe. I call it the Gate of the Cosmos.”
Eli rubbed aching eyes; his vision swam like heat above sand.
Zero stroked his chin, puzzled, then shook his head with a helpless smile. “You’re too fragile. I shielded you this much, and it still smacks you like hail.”
“You—” Eli started to curse, then froze, stunned, as the sight ahead drowned him like a dawn tide.
Before them, countless nebulae and unknowable bodies tangled into a vast thing, bleeding dark red and pale green light like twin rivers. They stood just beyond its shore.
From his vantage, there was no edge, no end—only horizon upon horizon, like a desert of stars.
Zero snapped his fingers. The sound cracked like dry bamboo.
The region seemed to shrink, drawing in like a tightened fist, until it stood half a man’s height, displayed before them like a jewel.
Eli frowned. “What is this?”
“Relax. It didn’t shrink. We got bigger.” Zero pointed at their bodies, a teacher under starlight.
“Holy—damn. You’re insane,” Eli muttered, despair pooling like ink.
Facing a miracle maker who waves his hand and rewrites nature—can I really beat him someday? Doubt brushed him like cold wind.
Zero smiled. “That’s why beings like us earn your awe. If anyone could flip us, what’s the point of the throne?” His tone was light as dusk.
Eli shook his head, words knotted like vines.
“Hahaha. Enough gloom. Watch me forge a star.” He winked, bright as frost on glass.
He reached into the red field and scooped something that felt like void, then into the green, palms kneading both like dough under moonlight.
He opened his hands. “See? A star.”
Eli’s mouth twitched. He stared, helpless, like a man handed a child’s clay figurine as proof of a miracle.
Could you not use that tone like you made a mud doll?
“As for life…” Zero tilted his head, thinking like a crane on one leg. “Other creators say: if you want a species beyond your sway, pick one born by nature, then let it grow.”
“Anyway, I’m bored. Tell me which planets your human world has mapped. I’ll pinch them out for fun.” He smiled, lazy as a cat.
“I don’t even know what to say,” Eli sighed, his breath a cloud.
…
“What are these?” Edlyn stared at the scales sheathing her skin, disgust wrinkling her face like rain on paper.
“Uh, that’s your draconic bloodline,” he said.
“Dragon?” Edlyn blinked, confusion like mist over a lake.
“Emmm… you didn’t know? I’m a demon dragon.” Abyss pointed to himself, casual as a shadow.
“What? You never told me! And this body was born to ordinary humans. You—” She stopped, a thought catching like a fish on the line. Her brow rose. “Wait… you…”
“Well… Edlyn, remember this. The father was always me.” Abyss smiled, mystery curling like smoke.
“I suddenly feel you gods and ghosts are all trouble,” Edlyn groaned, palms to her temples like holding stormclouds.
“What, you don’t want to hear what happened in the dark?” Abyss asked, voice soft as night water.
“Not from you. Tell Eli sometime. He can tell me.” Edlyn smiled, light as spring.
“Sigh… a married daughter is water poured out,” Abyss said, head tipped back, dabbing at tears like dew.
“But how do I fix these? They look gross.” She pointed at the scales, face twisted like a knot.
“Daughter, those dragon scales are the finest shield anyone could dream of,” Abyss blurted, eyes wide as moons.
“Ugly,” Edlyn pouted, lips pressed like a seal.
“…,” Abyss looked up and wiped his eyes again, a mime in the rain.
“Once you learn control, one thought hides them,” Abyss said, resigned as a fading wave.
“Oh, that works,” she said, cheer returning like sun through cloud.
