Caleb and Zephyr were currently watching the new Ent emerge from its shell. Unlike when Zephyr was born this Ent was much more careful. Cracks began to run up the sides of the shell and the bottom began to fold outward, making large creaking and crunching noises as it segmented. It looked similar to an armored spider until it began to draw its pieces back together and melded together to create a bipedal Ent.

This Ent was shorter than Zephyr but still reached a respectable 13 meters. Its head grew flowers as hair, creating a vibrant and dark purple that shimmered in the afternoon light. The hair was styled to bend from the left to right side and didn't extend past its nape.

The Ent turned to them and said, "Salutations, patriarch of the shadows, and fellow traveler of the abyss. How doth the darkness whisper to thee this eve?"

Zephyr turned to Caleb while Caleb was in admiration of the Ents form. "We are doing just fine, young one. You have chosen a beautiful form, my son. Once you have established your nature, I will bequeath you a name."

Zephyr turned to his sibling and said, "I, like, totally vibe with the darkness, bro. Nice to meet you, man." This led the younger Ent to scrutinize him before nodding its head.

Caleb listened to them talk for a while as Zephyr showed the young Ent his preferred platlife. The Ent showed some interest in the trees but his interest visually grew once the flowers were shown. As Zephyr continued to create new trees to show his brother, Caleb had to tell him, "Remember to clear the life you've created once you're done, this clearing is not unlike the womb of our planet." With that said Zephyr led the trees to his body and let them use him as support.

"No worries, pops. I won't be able to take them across the ocean, but I'll make sure to find a sweet spot for them here."

Caleb nodded his approval and then sank to the ground. "As I continue to expand deeper into the oceans and create lifelines between the continents I am expending great amounts of energy. I'm leaving the world to you for the foreseeable future, as much as I want to be leading the charge with you, I must make sure that the foundation never crumbles."

Being Ents, they all knew the world was largely inhospitable. The land they expanded into was devoid of life, leaving a bad taste in their mouths. The youngest had not yet personally experienced such things, but they soon would.

"Zephyr, wake me when he has chosen his path. I don't expect you to push yourselves as hard as I had pushed myself, that was in a desperate attempt to create a foothold in this world. You both have my support, so make sure to use it accordingly. I'll see you both in a while, good luck."

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With that, Caleb began to hum as he drifted off, with the forests and fields across the continent joining in, the 2 siblings were waved off by the swaying of the grass and the groaning of the trees.

Before Zepyhr left with his board, he turned to his brother and asked, "You got a ride, brother?"

Zepyhr was met with a muted nod and heard his brother say, "I've got a somewhat viable way to get around, fashioned from the shadows of our existence. Given the hand life's dealt us, I figure I can piece something together."

With both of them seemingly having their own methods of transportation, they set off.

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Sam and Sam were hating their latest assignment. Usually, just sending people back to their base realities without doing much else was a perfectly acceptable form of finishing the job. However, due to the accident that happened, things had changed. New rules were being implemented and people were losing jobs. Sam and Sam were found to be not guilty in the issue and not much had actually been looked into.

They had already been working overtime and it had been determined that even if they had been there, nothing good would have come of it. There could have possibly been a much worse outcome in which their first meeting could have ended with hostilities. Thankfully that hadn't happened though, as there would have been no way to fight back without subdueing that particular universe, and that required resources they didn't have in hand at all times ready for use.

If it had been a thought-out decision they might have ended up rewarded, but due to it being a happy accident, all they were given was a few days off. Which could have been seen as more of a punishment as their time off led them to be assigned to the current task they were on.

They had to enter the realities that the recent swap took place in, remove all research material, and in the worst case, wipe memories one by one until everything was wrapped up.

Taking 3 days off led them to be set up for a job that could take weeks if they were lucky and years if they weren't. With their half-hearted grumbling and curses, they started off with the reality that they had returned the first version of the hopper. The file they had was pulled back out of the library and was currently being displayed for them both.

Ardgon was, in both cases, a supporter of a lady until the lady ended up in a romantic relationship with the next leader of the empire they were in. This is where it split for Ardgon, one was a man who was unable to trust a man he didn't know around his soon-to-be wife and gave him a cruel choice. Become a eunuch or leave. Seeing the resolute face Ardgon had made and the lack of hesitation to self-castrate himself in front of him, the Emperor felt guilty for doubting him. This then led to a very rocky start to a great friendship.

The other was a woman who had originally started the relationship out of a necessity to have free choice in her love life but grew to love the lady. Later on when they needed a first-born the Empress asked Ardgon to copulate. This led to a very happy life for all 3.

"Christ," said the female Sam, "To go into a reality where you got to bone your lady must've been nice."

"Or sickening," said the male Sam, "Imagine a world where you would lay a hand on the lady you swore to serve from a young age. That could have ruined a normal man. He could have seen her as a sister. There's no way of knowing."

"Well, that is true."