Queen Marianna marched through the pristine white halls of the Magic Science Department, staffed by lab coats and nervous smiles, glasses and clipboards. Following on her left, a military general with a bushy mustache and a uniform packed with glistening medals. On her right, a handsome secretary in a business suit.

Her heels tapped with a sterile echo.

Scientists recoiled with respect at the sight of her as she passed.

They paused at a huge metal door, nearly a meter thick. A scientist nodded at the general, who nodded back, and he waved his hand over a nearby terminal. It buzzed in submission. A beating alarm pulsed throughout the laboratory, and the doors began to slide open, clacking with a mechanical whirr.

The general coughed to clear his throat.

Marianna grinned as she stared through the slit of the massive door. It widened, further, the image beyond clearer, and now presented to them in all its glory.

Like a warehouse, the ceiling reached several stories above, pure concrete, and the area was mostly empty, save for the strange contraption on the far end.

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It appeared as a flat circle, a cross-section of a cylinder. The rim was just thick enough to be adorned with gold designs inlet with gemstones, several of which glowed with power.

"How much longer?" she asked. Her voice echoed here.

A nearby old man in a lab coat answered. He rested on a shaking cane. "Once we acquire enough cosmic shards, we may begin testing, your Ladyship."

Her eyes didn't leave the sight of the contraption.

"Ma'am," said the handsome secretary beside her. "About the maiden, Jessie Barnabas. The results came back positive. Her crystallized essence may provide us with several more."

Marianna smirked. "Allow her to do what she came here for. Once she's done, we'll use her for our own needs."

The secretary bowed. "Of course, ma'am. I'll write it in."

The general coughed again beside her. "M-my queen. We are ready to invade whomever you wish us to. If you wish us to. You don't... have to, but if you did, I'd suggest the... Eurusian Federation in the north."

"Yes," she said. "Declare war as soon as you are ready."

He grinned like a child, and the excitement was written on his face. "Y-yes, ma'am!" He spun on his heels to leave.

In the silence of the room, Marianna gazed up at the mysterious machine--and it gazed back down at her. Along the rim, only about one-third of the gemstones glowed.

"Soon," she said. "Soon, I will have my revenge."