The crisp night air hung heavy with the scent of smoke and simmering broth as Surreal and Forreal sat by their campfire.
They were nestled in a quiet clearing surrounded by towering pines, their branches swaying faintly in the breeze.
The world was eerily silent, devoid of the distant hum of cities or the occasional chatter of wildlife.
The only sound was the crackling of the fire and the bubbling of the crude vegetable soup they were cooking atop it.
Forreal poked at the pot with a long wooden spoon she'd fashioned from a branch, her expression sour. "You know, for someone who just reset the entire planet, this feels... anticlimactic."
Surreal, seated on a log across from her, idly poked the fire with a stick, his closed eyes tilted in his usual faint smile. "And why is that?"
"Why?" Forreal shot him an eyeless glare, her spoon clinking against the edge of the pot. "Because of how crude and hasty you are! I mean, you didn't have to destroy everything."
"Uh-huh," Surreal replied nonchalantly, as if her complaints were nothing more than background noise.
That only irritated Forreal further. She jabbed the spoon in his direction.
"Don't 'uh-huh' me! You wiped out the entire civilization! Do you have any idea how wasteful that is? All the knowledge, the infrastructure, the technologies, useful facilities—gone!"
Surreal chuckled softly, leaning back against the log. "I think you're overreacting."
"Am I?" Forreal shot back. "I went looking for mushrooms earlier. You know what I found? Nothing! Because someone decided to annihilate literally every organism on earth except for plants and photosynthesizing sea planktons!
"And why did you categorize mushrooms as animals to begin with!?"
Surreal tilted his head slightly. "You and I don't like mushrooms, though."
"That's not the point!" Forreal groaned, throwing her hands up. "Do you even realize how many important systems you've destroyed? The clean energy, the fusion power plant!"
Surreal smirked, waving a hand dismissively. "Fusion power requires a team to maintain. Besides, electricity is overrated."
Forreal stared at him, her expression caught between disbelief and resignation. "You're living in the stone age already, and now you want to brag about it."
She stirred the soup aggressively, the aroma wafting up to her nose. "And another thing—earthquakes. Why did you have to cause so many earthquakes? Do you have any idea how many useful heritage sites are gone? The Svalbard Seed Vault, gene banks, entire libraries—"
"The Svalbard Seed Vault?" Surreal interrupted, raising an eyebrow. "I saved it."
Forreal froze mid-rant, blinking at him. "What?"
Surreal's smile widened as he snapped his fingers. A swirling portal of black energy materialized beside the fire, revealing the interior of a gleaming metal structure lined with rows of boxes. The faint hum of preserved air and the soft glow of artificial lights spilled out into the night.
"The entire vault," Surreal said with a hint of smugness, "Tucked safely into my pocket space."
Forreal gawked at the portal, her spoon dropping into the soup. "You... You actually saved it?"
"Of course," Surreal replied, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Even I know the value of preserving the seeds of mother nature."
Forreal slumped back, shaking her head. "You're an enigma. Just when I think you're completely insane, you throw in a sliver of logic."
Surreal grabbed the pot of soup with his gloved hands, steam billowing around him as he tilted it back and downed the entire contents in one long gulp.
Setting the empty pot back down, he wiped his mouth and grinned. "We should check the vault. You know, just in case."
Forreal glared at him. "You drank the whole soup."
"Yup."
"Didn't leave me any."
"Correct."
Forreal groaned, muttering under her breath as she stood. "I hate you."
"And I love me~"
Together, they stepped through the portal, entering the meticulously preserved Svalbard Seed Vault.
The air inside was cold and dry, the faint hum of working applicants now powered by black magic instead of electricity, to the technology designed to protect the seeds for generations.
Rows of metal shelving stretched into the distance, each compartment neatly labeled with the names of plant species and their corresponding geographic origins.
Forreal trailed a hand along one of the shelves, her expression softening. "This place... it's amazing. It's like a library for life itself."
"It is," Surreal agreed, his voice unusually quiet as he gazed at the rows of seeds. "A repository of Earth's potential. Every grain, every fruit, every flower—all here."
They walked deeper into the vault, passing rows of containers labeled with familiar names: Zea mays (corn), Oryza sativa (rice), Triticum aestivum (wheat), etc.
Each label bore tiny barcodes, detailing the genetic lineage and origin of the seed within.
Forreal crouched to peer into one container filled with tiny, black seeds. "So, what's the plan? You went to all this trouble to save this—what's next?"
Surreal grinned, plucking a single seed from a shelf and holding it up to the dim light. "Magical bioengineering. I'll create crops that are more nutritious, easier to grow, and capable of thriving in the harshest conditions. Reliable staple foods, luxury goods... possibilities are endless."
Forreal raised an eyebrow. "Luxury goods? Who's going to buy them? The plankton?"
Surreal laughed, popping the seed into his mouth like a snack. "Aliens."
Forreal's expression twisted into one of disbelief.
"Aliens? You're planning to sell food to aliens?"
"Not just food," Surreal replied, turning to face her with a mischievous smile. "Products, goods, ideas. There's a market for everything in the multiverse."
Forreal crossed her arms, narrowing her eyes. "Are aliens, like, Nihil? Like something that shouldn't exist but does?"
"Oh right, this should be the first time I talked about anything extraterrestrial, or well, living." Surreal chuckled. "No, the alien is not a Nihil. The lack of extraterrestrial beings in this universe—that's the real Nihil."
Forreal blinked. "What?"
"You heard me." Surreal grabbed another handful of seeds and began snacking on them like peanuts. "The absence of life beyond Earth in this universe is an anomaly. A massive one."
Forreal frowned, mulling over his words.
"What about other universes?"
"Aliens are everywhere," Surreal replied casually. "In the neighboring multiverses, there's no shortage of them. Some are even more advanced than you'd believe, to the point of bending space-time in their everyday life."
Surreal stopped abruptly, turning to face Forreal with a sudden seriousness. His closed eyes tilted in her direction, his expression thoughtful.
"Do you know how the multiverse ecosystem works?" he asked, his voice low and deliberate.
Forreal tilted her head, her curiosity piqued. "I have a feeling you're about to tell me."
Surreal's smile widened. "Oh, it's more fascinating than you think."