We walk for a while in silence, the bandits behind us still trying not to look at me while staring at me at the same time.

Turning my head to Alice, I ask, [What's so great about Xylphys that you'd want to come hunt me down, Noah and all?]

She shrugs in response. "Well, it was more that they paid well."

I process the information. [Interesting. Baby, what about you?]

When I look up, I'm no longer on the plains, and everyone is gone. Now I'm in a room so huge I feel as though I haven't grown at all.

[Joule! What's going on?]

[I don't know! We were just teleported to... oh.]

[That doesn't sound good.]

[No, it's not a bad thing, but it has the potential to be.]

What does that mean?

I receive the answer to my unasked question immediately as Noah walks out of a door, grinning hugely. "Hey, Null! It took forever to build a section of the universe that your brain could comprehend, but we did it! Welcome to Universe Zero!"

I sigh in deep frustration, again thanking my lungs for the expression. [Noah, why am I here? I was on my way to Lymphadra to join the giant ant colony.]

He tilts his head. "That's what you're doing? You could have used your Favor to get there instantly, and be the king of the hill, and... well, really, you could have asked for literally anything."

I'd honestly forgotten about the Cosmic Favor that Noah had given me, and told him so. His eyes widened in surprise. "Really? Entire multiverses have been destroyed in attempts to earn one. I kinda thought you would remember that sort of thing, but I guess you didn't know what it was."

Void energy lifts off of me, and Joule forms, her centipede coiling up. Noah smiled. "Joule! You figured out how to build a physical construct? Not bad!"

Joule's face turns red as she bows slightly, and I wonder exactly what that's all about.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Is there something I'm missing?

[Noah, where is Bubbles?]

He shrugs dismissively. "I left him with your human buddies and the dragon. He'll be fine, though I can't guarantee he won't eat the rest of those bandits."

I'm barely even surprised anymore, but regardless...

[How do you know about that?]

Noah pointed at his eye, and as I look closer, I can see that the center of his eye is a black, white-rimmed ball with specks of light orbiting it.

[Are those stars?]

He shook his head. "Nope! Black holes. But I was actually pointing at my eye because I see everything."

I tilt my head. [What do you mean?]

He raises his hands in a strange gesture. "Everything. Literally everything in the universe, though I can extend it to multiverse if I'm really trying. You know, atoms, molecules, stars, that sort of thing. It took me a few forevers to get that hang of."

I shake my head, trying to ignore the weirdness of Noah and all the words I don't understand. [Look, what am I doing here?]

Noah threw his hands wide. "What do you think? I brought you here to meet my family! Not all of them, though - you'd probably cease to have ever not existed if they were all in the same room, so I just asked whoever was available."

Joule suddenly panics, leaning forward slightly. "Wait, are you sure this is a good idea? I mean, who knows what might happen if-" Noah cuts her off, waving a hand. "It's fine, I'm sure of it. Besides, if he dies, we can just reverse time."

The door opens, and a very young human child walks in. His face is still soft from youth, and his straight brown hair is short and manageable. He smiles when he sees me. "Is that Null?"

Rushing forward, he grabs me in a hug and-

Suddenly he's back in front of me and I've got a mild headache, and there's another one of them, a poofy red-haired teenage girl. She's sighing as she flicks her wrist out of some sort of energy field, and saying, "Steve, you can't just touch him like that. You've got to remember that he's made of atoms, and those break easily." The younger child looks a little embarrassed, and indicates me. "But it's Null! Noah's been talking about him a lot." She smiles and looks at me. "Hey, Null! It's really nice to meet you. I'm Sophia Cosmic, and this is Steve."

I shake my head out of the strange feeling permeating the room. It's as though my Void is being completely filled and expanding to the limit. [What just happened?]

"I'm sorry. I just killed you." Steve gently kicked the floor in embarrassment, and a gigantic wave of stone erupted at speeds I couldn't comprehend directly at-

He's looking significantly more abashed now, Sophia is flicking her hand back out of the same energy field, and Noah sounds annoyed. "Steve, you killed him twice already! We can't do this all day!"

Looking back at me, he says apologetically, "Sorry about this, Null. We should do this later when you're a bit less fragile."

And I'm back with the humans, who immediately start yelling. "Where'd you go? What's going on?"

I simply sit there for a moment, staring into nothing, and then ask Joule, who's still coiled next to me, [Did I really just die?]

She sighs in frustration. "Twice. Steve has some trouble controlling his strength."