Herah could only look at Alex in silent horror, her expression matched by Owen and Max as Norwe continued their laughing fit.

“He’ll what?!” Max shouted, looking towards Norwe then back at her brother.

Alex broke eye contact with Herah, turning to his sister and responding in a dead tone.

“They’ll destroy our universe, killing everything and everyone with little more than a thought.”

“RAAAAWWRRG!”

Green flames flared from all over Herah’s body, shooting from her pores like exhaust, engulfing the room in a flood of green and star-like heat.

“WOAH!” Owen cried out.

“WAIT!” Max shouted.

But their screams were for naught, the flames burning nothing as they filled the room.

Herah’s nostrils flared, jets of green shooting from her nose.

Her claws popped, extending to their full length.

A snarl was torn from her throat, green flames leaking from behind tightly clenched teeth.

And her eyes glowed a firey green as her body turned towards Norwe and began to step forward-

“What?”

The youngling found her limbs frozen in place as shifting red lines began to dance around her, the familiar feeling of Jeffery’s Presence engulfing her.

“Dammit Jeffery! Why are you stopping me?!”

“Because the pencil knows you won’t win,” Herah gave Alex a growl, the human just frowning back at her in response, “You already gave up earlier ashbrain. Nothing’s changed since then.”

“The fact I now know countless numbers of others will die if I win or lose is a change!”

“Artist,” Norwe stopped laughing and tilted their head curiously, their lips quirked up into a curious smile, “Do you now believe you can somehow defeat me?”

“I don’t need to defeat you, I just need to get you to change the rules.”

“You think you can make me bow to your whims?” Norwe let out a small chuckle, their words tainted by mockery.

“If I have to, yes.”

As soon as the yes left her mouth, Herah was blasted with a deluge of Norwe’s chaotic Presence. Once again, reality distorted and space and time became erratic, only Herah, her flames, Jeffery and Norwe remaining unaffected. Herah felt all the same things before; the constant change, the unrestraint, the immense power.

“Are you sure of that?” Norwe asked, a genuinely curious look on their face.

Herah didn’t even blink.

“Yes.”

Everything was back to normal in an instant, almost as if the brief exchange had never happened.

“Herah!”

The youngling turned to a smiling Max, her anger and green flames dispersing into nothingness at the sight.

“It’s all good, so just sit down and see where this goes.”

“Okay.” Herah responded, no doubt in her mind as her butt went into her chair and Jeffery pulled their Presence back in.

“Hmm,” Herah’s eyes went back to Norwe, the Maker wearing a pleased smile, “The reality you’ve chosen is more interesting than I first thought Artist. I can’t wait to see what happens next in it.”

“Fuck off.”

Norwe just shook their head before returning their attention to everyone.

“Now, I’m sure you’d all like to hear more about how Recompense functions and my reasoning for how everything is.”

“Yes we would very much Norwe.” Max responded, nodding with a light frown.

“First,” The room dimmed as three translucent, orange spheres appeared over the table. Each sphere was filled with a dizzying amount of what looked like solid white towers, the towers organized so that the ones above were always distinctly larger than the ones below, “An understanding of what exactly is at stake.”

“What are we looking at?” Owen asked, Herah noticing him now on top of the table and looking at the spheres in wonder.

“These are your aUs.”

“Ah-yoo.” Herah said to herself. The same feelings as with the other words filled Herah, though what made this one special was just how vast it felt. It spoke of home, yet home was less than infinitesimal in comparison to what was truly being spoken of, not even a speck within infinity. Herah heard Owen and Max repeat the word as well, each one sounding just as confused as her when they said it.

“I see you’re still familiarizing yourselves with our language Artist, Liar, and Linker.” Herah’s attention went back to Norwe, the Maker’s pleased smile unnerving, “An easier word for me to use is Universe. These three spheres are your universes.”

“That doesn’t seem quite right though,” Herah turned her eyes to Max, the human now frowning while speaking confused, “The word you used before makes where we come from seem nonexistent in comparison.”

“Because we come from a vastly smaller infinity.” Alex spoke low and quiet, the carefulness in his words easy to hear for everyone present, “An aU is larger than an inaccessible cardinal while what we come from is a part of an uncountable cardinal.”

“What?” Was the unanimous response from the other three gifted present.

“Set theory,” Alex’s head twitched to the side then back, “Well not really theory at the moment, can be used to explain how our existence is structured. To a point at least, eventually you enter a realm where ideas such as logic can no longer exist.”

Herah noticed the small frown and another shift in Alex’s scent which told her the thought bothered him greatly.

“Anyhow, set theory is a math thing which I’m pretty sure the rest of you don’t know, so the simplest explanation I can give is that if you look at everything a certain way, you can get different sized infinities and that logic is what our Maker used when structuring our bit of existence.”

“Correct Soothsayer!” Sparks and lights erupted around Alex, showering him in a dizzying arrays of colors, “Axioms remind me too much of Chaos to not use them when structuring my Sandbox.”

“So why do we need to know that?” Herah asked, her nostrils flaring and jets of smoke shooting from them as annoyance grew within her, “What I just heard sounds dumb and makes no sense. Infinity is infinity, that’s all we needed to hear.”

Herah leaned back in her chair, frown in place and her arms crossed.

“Well Artist, you see a single aU is large enough to fit every uA there is into it without ever getting full. No matter how many or how large the uAs you add up and stack upon one another, they’ll never be able to reach the size of an aU. Likewise, a single uA” Within each sphere, a single one of the white towers was plucked out and enlarged to the point that Herah could make out the dizzying number of black floors that filled them, “Can fit every ua there is and never get full. Once again, no matter how many or how large the uas within get, they’ll never be even a percentage the size of a uA. Infinitely smaller you see. You all come from a ua, or what you would refer to as a universe.”

“Uh-ey, uh-ah.” Herah pronounced each word with anger, barely noting how the first word spoke of home in a larger sense than when spoken of in aU, but still this home was nearly nothing. The second word however struck a chord, causing the youngling to pause, as it spoke of home at its largest. Home was only a speck, an almost insignificant percent, but that was more than it had ever been with the other two.

Shaking her head, thoughts of home flew from Herah’s mind as a growl tore from her throat.

“Realities and Dimensions, in that order.” Norwe seemed pleased as they spoke, smiling to themselves and nodding their head, “That’s what I would call them using your tongue.”

“I don’t care.” Herah rose up from her seat, her claws popping and stabbing into the table with a wet SQUELCH. “Whatever point you’re trying to make is failing to reach me!”

“Think about it Artist,” Norwe waved a hand and the three spheres alongside all but one of their towers shattered and collapsed into nothingness. This single tower then crumbled, leaving only one of its black floors to be enlarged until it resembled an expanding universe, filled with clusters of galaxies. Further zooming, led to a familiar looking star system with a white dwarf as its center.

“Incendié!” Herah said with a gasp as her home planet was enlarged to the point that it revealed her mother hard at work assembling a rifle. Her face was scrunched up into a scowl, angry puffs of indigo leaking from between tightly clenched teeth and shooting out from the Rouge’s nose with every exhale.

Green flames flared from Herah’s nose, a low growl rumbling in her throat as her eyes went from her mother to Norwe.

“What are you doing?!””

“Artist,” Norwe grinned back with overjoyed glee, “I’m just using your dear mother as an example to help illustrate my point.”

“Get to it already.”

“Your mother is a mortal. She has hopes, she has dreams, she has desires. She has a reason to not just live, but to exist.”

“That can be said for anyone.”

“Correct my dear Artist!” Norwe clapped their hands happily, their smile stretching to become uncanny, “Your mother is just one part of an uncountable amount of mortals that exist within your uA. Now, if we took the idea that I applied to structuring my Sandbox, and applied it to the living things within it you’d get-”

Norwe paused as a sudden shift in Owen’s scent caused Herah to snap her head towards the gnome. His scent was one filled with horror and understanding. His expression reflected his horror, eyes wide and mouth agape.

“I didn’t need to understand.” Herah said to herself, her lips settling into a line for but a moment before the youngling attacke-

CRACK!

-her head was pinned to the table, Alex’s scent over her as his left hand held her down.

“You’re not very smart are you?”

“Get off of me poltron.” Herah told Alex with a growl, trying to lift her head up.

“I’ll prefer to stay on you coward.” Alex responded, the youngling just hearing his cool expression. “I might not personally care for you but trying to attack him again would be dumb.”

Flames of green began to flare up around Herah’s restrained face, her rage surging instantly as both of her hands slammed into the table.

“I’m no such thing!” Herah once again tried to lift her head up but Alex’s arm didn’t even budge.

“You’re just as scared as I am!” Alex shouted back, annoyance beginning to creep into his voice.

“At least I’m refusing to just roll over and be their bitch!”

“You still can’t do anything!”

“Soothsayer get off my Artist would you?” Norwe asked, their voice now coming from right next to Herah.

The weight atop Herah’s head disappeared as Alex leaped away and back towards his seat. Head now free, Herah lifted it up and looked at Norwe with glowing green eyes and a snarl. The Maker stood crouched atop the table grinning, one of their feet resting atop one of the mouths.

“Now Artist, as you we-”

CRACK!

Herah’s fist slammed into Norwe’s face, knocking their head sideways.

“Why?” Was the one fuming word coming from Herah.

“Motivation.” Norwe responded with a pleased grin, turning their head back to face Herah while waving a hand towards everyone there, “Motivation to do well in Recompense is why.”

Norwe pointed at Herah.

“What motivates you is your pride and zealotry. Motivation achieved.

Norwe pointed at Alex.

“What motivates him is fear and desperation. Motivation achieved.”

Norwe pointed at Owen.

“What motivates him is guilt and shame. Motivation achieved.”

Norwe pointed at Max.

“What motivates her is desperation and guilt. Motivation pending.”

“Pending?” Max looked at Norwe confused.

“Don’t worry, we’ll get it when I need it.”

Max frowned at Norwe but shook her head.

“How does explaining infinities and people have anything to do with that?”

“I can fully understand and comprehend the idea of infinity and greater infinities.”

Herah turned towards Owen, Max and Alex also giving the gnome a look. His head was downcast, a very clear frown on his face.

“To you the death of merely what my people call one beta, or one inacessible cardinal as Alex referred to it, living things is not only equivalent to a true omega but also unimaginable. I however can easily imagine the first and distinguish it from the latter.” Owen wrapped his hands around his shoulders, giving himself a tight squeeze while letting out a deep breath, “As long as it’s not a truly boundless infinity, I can picture it without problem.”

Owen looked up, his eyes filled with guilt and terror.

“That would all be on my head.”

“Don’t be an idiot,” Alex gave Owen a light glare, “You’ve encountered an unstoppable force, you’re subject to his whims not him to yours. You can’t be blamed for anything that he does.”

“Such a boring reality to live in.” Norwe frowned at Alex unamused, “You’d be surprised at what you can do by simply believing. Especially when wielding the same power as me and Jeffery.”

Herah blinked and Norwe was back in their chair.

“Now, we’ve spent far too long off topic,” Norwe gestured towards, “To summarize, if you fail to win, I’ll destroy your aUs again.”

“Again?” Max and Herah asked together, both glancing at one another just after they said it.

“Earlier when I said those were your aUs, I meant that in the literal sense.”

Herah’s mind immediately went back to when the spheres shattered. Herah’s nose twitched, the abrupt shift in Max’s and Owen’s scent telling her of their own revelations.

“Oh my go-,” Owen’s face paled as he placed a hand to his chest and began to take deep shallow breaths while breaking out into a cold sweat.

“Owen,” Max had gotten up from her chair and walked over to the gnome, petting his head, “You’re okay.”

Owen paused, blinking a few times before looking at Max a bit confused.

“Oh yeah, I am.”

Max smiled at Owen and gave him a pat to the head.

“Good, I’d hate for you to feel torn up.”

Herah paid little attention to this, her eyes beginning to glow green as flames of the same color began to waft from between her clenched teeth and flaring nostrils.

“Why?” Herah’s question came out low and harsh, her hands flexing and popping their claws.

“Because he felt like it Ashbrain, simple as that.” Glancing at Alex, Herah found the human sitting in his chair and tapping his nose while glaring at her, “Any question you have for him, the answer is going to be he felt like it. That’s how Maker’s work, they do whatever they want without a thought.”

“You’ve met three of us Soothsayer,” Another Norwe stood next to Alex, patting the now wide-eyed humans head while shaking their own, “If only you weren’t so blind.”

With a blink, the Norwe clone was gone and the only one to remain was the original Maker still seated in their chair. With a snap of their fingers, the three translucent, orange spheres from earlier reformed themselves and disappeared.

“Luckily enough for all of you, that was merely a show of force. Now, allow me to tell you what Recompense entails.”

Herah just barely held herself back, the signs of everything being restored helping to soothe her anger to an extent. Letting out a breath, the youngling focused all of her attention on Norwe who continued to speak.

“Every Recompense, I briefly turn off my omniscience and force myself to forget the knowledge in regards to what shall happen during or after it occurs.”

Norwe snapped their fingers as thousands of small projections of a myriad of creatures appeared over the table.

‘Three thousand two hundred.’ Herah thought to herself, as her eyes quickly ran over and counted each of the projections. The youngling then ran over the projections again, examining each one in detail, ‘One projection of me, Max, Alex, and Owe-’

Her eyes stopped on one projection in particular. This one was of another Cendreux; one with a slim but muscular physique, posed grinning fanged teeth while in the middle of a shrug. White shiny scales ran up both of his arms and the top half of his face starting at the nose. White eyes with slit grey pupils twinkled while his arms were poised with their hands up and elbows to his sides. Paper white skin covered the bottom half of his face, though Herah knew there was definitely more beneath the scales and the short-sleeved white and blue striped shirt they wore. A thin and wiry tail with a pointed tip wrapped around his waist, holding up his white and red-striped pants.

“Blanc?!” Herah asked as a shock ran through her body, tears peeking at the corner of her eyes while her hands went to cover her mouth, “You’re alive!?”

“Whose alive?” Owen asked, looking up to Herah confused.

“An old friend.” Herah answered, rubbing her eyes and shaking her head.

“You can talk all you want about him later Artist,” Herah’s eyes snapped up to Norwe, the Maker giving her a painfully wide grin and a taunting look. “It’s my turn to talk now.”

Herah didn’t care for Norwe in this moment, a small laugh and cry tearing from her throat as her anger collapsed into joy and regret.

‘I hope he’s doing well!’

“Each of you having been marked as Gifted,” Herah’s ears twitched instinctively, just enough attention given to Norwe to take what they said in, “Now represent your aU and will participate in a series of what I like to call Acts.”

Herah noticed a flood of orange spheres appeared over all the projections, each one having a number over it with the exact amount fuzzy in her head.

‘I bet he’s gotten stronger!’ Herah brought her hands up from her mouth and to under her eyes, wiping away the tears that dragged down her face.

“These Acts would have me fling you to different aUs, each one having a specific task you are to complete. Once the task is completed or failed, I’ll move you onto the next aU and the process will complete until it’s all over.

Norwe tilted their head to the side.

“If you’re still alive that is.”

Jeffery’s Presence engulfed Herah, snapping her out of her thoughts of Blanc and forcefully calming her overwhelming feelings, as an image of herself intensely watching her father swing his hammer entered her mind.

‘Sorry about that Jeffery,’ Herah thought to her pencil, red flames flaring up in her eyes with steam following as the youngling’s vision cleared. ‘And thanks, I need the fous.

Mind refocused and eyes now back on Norwe, Herah watched the Maker wave a hand. The projection of each aU (Herah’s eyes snapped to the biggest number present, five hundred eighty-nine million seven hundred eighty-six thousand eight hundred ninety) disappeared, along with those of every gifted not present within the room.

“Before that can occur however I always form teams.“

The projections of Alex, Herah, Owen, and Max were enlarged to the point that they were life size models of the originals now standing on the table.

“Every team has four members, each picked from one of five hundred eight aUs, with every aU having its two gifted participate.”

“So one thousand sixteen teams.” Owen said without missing a beat.

“Yup.” Norwe nodded, “Each team was handpicked by me with two of you being chosen for how your gifts mesh together, in your teams case, Soothsayer and Liar.”

Herah looked to the twins, both sharing their own worried look before looking back to Norwe.

“Our power’s don’t really generally don’t go well together.” Max tells Norwe, her expression perplexed,”In fact his-”

“Directly hampers yours,” Norwe grinned, “I know.”

“Dick.”

That got Max a swift elbow from Alex.

“You know I’m right!”

“And Herah and I?” Owen asked, nervously tugging on his hat, “Why us?”

Norwe shrugged.

“Flattering.” Herah murmured with a low growl.

“So,” Max crossed her legs and started to intertwine her fingers with her hair, “Is that all? We’re on a team partly for reasons and partly for no reasons. We’re gonna hop from universe to universe doing shit for you. If we do everything alright, you don’t nuke our universes-

“aU.” Norwe interrupted, a copy now sitting on the air next to Max, “Call it by its actual name would you?”

Herah’s nose and ears twitched as Alex suddenly pinched his neck and his scent shifting as fear became even more prevalent.

Max gave Norwe a confused look, her own shifting scent letting Herah know that the twin also noticed her brother’s feelings.

“You don’t nuke our aUs and give us a wish.” Max said cautiously, “If we fail or die, our aUs get destroyed like you did earlier. And if we survive and fail, we move into a new aU. Is that all?”

Norwe raised a finger, their duplicate disappearing as their smile grew unnaturally wide, stretching the Cendruex face they wore to the point that it bled slightly.

“One more thing you must understand, is how to win Recompense.”

Herah’s eyes narrowed and a tingle went up her spine.

‘This, this will be the most important.’

“Is it not done by completing the Acts?” Owen asked, brows furrowed and lips drawn to the side of his face.

“Remember Linker,” Another Norwe duplicate appeared next to the gnome, giving his head a few pats, “Recompense is to entertain me. What you really want to do, what you really have to do, is get me invested in you.”

The Norwe duplicate disappeared, while the original rose up from their seat and begin walking around the table.

“I’ll care about everything you care about. I’ll ignore what you ignore.”

Herah tracked Norwe with her eyes the entire time, watching as their scales and skin began to flake off and drop to the floor, blackness peaking through.

“You can fight amongst each other, do whatever you see fit for the scenario, fuck off and ignore what I set out for you entirely, even attempt to kill me if you wish.”

Norwe looked Herah dead in the eyes, having returned to their original, alien form. The youngling could tell that the Maker’s black eyes were somehow also making eye contact with everyone else.

“Just know, that your actions will have consequences.”

Norwe stopped behind Alex, and placed their two middle hands upon his shoulders.

“And that I really don’t care to be bored.”

Everyone took a gulp, Norwe’s words hanging in the air like a weight suspended only by a thread.

“Now,” Norwe took their hands off of Alex and glanced at the projections on the table, said projections disappearing as the Maker stepped up onto the table and clapped all their hands together, “Any questions?”

For a moment, no one said anything, sharing looking with one another and looking back to Norwe.

“Why is it called Recompense?”

Norwe turned to face Herah, matching her glare with their own twinkling eyes.

“What exactly are we repaying you for?”

Norwe’s top left hand rose up and pointed at Herah, their middle left one pointed at Owen. Norwe’s right top hand pointed at Max while their middle right pointed at Alex.

“Your existence of course.”

Norwe snapped their fingers, Herah just barely noticing the masses of black that appeared behind her and the rest.

“Wa-”

Alex, Herah, Owen and Max were each pulled into their own separate black mass. Herah’s last sight before being engulfed in black was a smiling Norwe and lazily spinning Jeffery.

Jeffery

Jeffery continued to float and spin as Norwe turned to them with a smile formed from twinkling stars.

“You know, when she-” Jeffer’s tip was at Norwe’s neck, the pencil shrouded in the sketch-like red flame that signified their Presence, “Apologies old friend, I meant no disrespect.”

Jeffery floated back and away from Norwe, no longer spinning and now just poised for a strike.

“As I was saying, when the Artist struck me earlier that wasn’t because I let her.”

Norwe tilted their head as their smile turned into an O-shape on their face while clasping their top and bottom hands together before their chest.

“When do you plan to tell her about herself? About what the Artist turned herself into. About how your unbreakable nature truly works.”

Norwe tilted their head back up, silence hanging over the pair for but a moment.

Then-

Jeffery swung their butt end up towards Norwe, as the Maker flung out their bottom right hand to intercept.

Jeffery imagined an orange glowing baby shattering into nothingness.

‘I will nullify most of Jeffery’s attack with my own.’ Was the thought that Jeffery caught from Norwe.

KRSSH!

The subspace the two stood within shattered as they made contact, red lines of Presence spreading out and shooting through the endless and timeless void that surrounded them at a speed beyond that of linear time. As the lines traveled through the liquid black, Jeffery felt them pass what were best described as millions of grey boxes that easily dwarfed both the pencil and Maker in size. A proton compared to a universe would describe something infinitely larger than Jeffery and Norwe compared to the boxes. Each box held within itself uncountable amounts of oranges spheres, like the ones Norwe had summoned earlier except much larger in scale, with watery black separating them into equally as uncountable groups. Orange chains larger than Realities bound these spheres together, an endless amount for each group to stay connected.

In an instant, everything and the nothingness it floated within was red.

The liquid blackness cracked.

The boxes cracked.

The spheres cracked.

In that same instant, everything within Norwe’s multiverse had cracked.

“No worries Jeffery,” Everything and the nothingness they floated within vibrated violently as the Maker laughed, “I won’t tell her a word.”

Norwe dropped their hand down as Jeffery flipped themselves back over to have their lead pointed at the Maker.

“Whoo, it’s been a while since I’ve done an eA.” Norwe looked around, a low whistle somehow filling the void, “Would’ve destroyed my entire Sandbox if I hadn’t chosen to nullify most of your greeting with my own.”

Jeffery spun slowly in place, their tip always aimed at Norwe’s neck.

“In fact, your oE managed to reach and crack the iI.” Norwe winked at Jeffery, “Let’s hope your Expression didn’t wake up the idiot.”

Jeffery lowered their tip and turned away from Norwe, their Presence now spreading out in bursts of sketchy red lines.

While sending them out, Jeffery imagined the cracks repairing themselves and of locating Herah. As the red lines traveled they did exactly that, fixing the cracks within the void, boxes, and spheres while scanning through everything they passed.

“Hmm, you’re searching for my Artist huh? Well, I’m not done with you yet so,” Jeffery felt Norwe’s wild Presence emerge from the void and lash at them, OE forced upon the pencil as their lines were nullified, “Stop.”

Jeffery didn’t bother attacking the Maker, instead they flared their own Presence breaking through the nullification and sending out another burst of red lines while also using OE on Norwe.

Then Norwe surrounded Jeffery in even more of their orange Presence, once again nullifying Jeffery’s lines.

The pencil felt the urge to stab Norwe.

A very strong urge.

But they didn’t, instead, they flexed their Presence once more and broke past the nullification before sending out another burst of red lines while also once again nulling Norwe’s own Presence.

“Come on Jeffery, I know you want to hit me.” Norwe taunted.

The pencil ignored their steadily growing urge.

Soon, a rhythm was struck up.

Jeffery would flex their Presence sending out a burst of lines, Norwe would use OE and nullify these lines along with the rest of Jeffery’s Presence with their own, Jeffery would break through the nullification, send out another wave and nullify Norwe’s Presence, only to have an even more powerful nullification placed upon them.

This would repeat a total of nine thousand times before Jeffery found their thoughts filled with an image of a slumbering Herah, laying her head against a smooth, grey barked tree.

“Awww, you found her.” Norwe tilted their head down as their stair mouth formed a pout, “Guess that means our game is ov-”

Jeffery plowed through Norwe’s head with a Presence enhanced smack of their eraser, the head exploding into hundreds upon hundreds of little rat skulls that ceased to be just as soon as they had appeared.

“I knew you couldn’t resist!” Once again the void shook with Norwe’s laughter as the Maker’s head grew back, “You might have more control than her but you still have the temper of your creator.”

Jeffery pointed their tip at the Maker, several red lines of Presence shooting out from their aura and into Norwe.

“Ooh eE,” Norwe’s own Presence batted at Jeffery carelessly, shooting into the pencil, “What Insight do you hope to gain old friend?”

The pencil found themselves looking at both the less than nothingness (a memory of Norwe referring to what comprised their form as norweness appeared in Jeffery’s mind) that the Maker was composed of and the Concepts, or logic as they liked to say, of which Norwe overlaid themselves with to be seen and heard by those without Presence.

Calm, growing anticipation, and curiosity swarmed throughout the Maker, most aimed towards Recompense, some at Jeffery themselves, and the rest towards something that Jeffery had yet to encounter. What Norwe planned to do next kept changing; fight Jeffery, destroy La Flamme to see how Herah would react, eat some of the void, take a stroll through the Abyss, spend some time as a baby, pet a puppy etc.It was utter chaos and if gleaned by a proper mind or one without Presence, the viewer would be driven insane.

But Jeffery’s mind was neither proper nor lacking in protection, so the pencil merely observed this madness and made sure to remember anything that seemed important.

Past all of this, a familiar and immense power was just barely restrained. A power so wild and frenzied that at the touch of Jeffery’s mind observing it, it lashed out and attempted to warp the pencil’s form.

An instinctive use of OE, halted any changes that could’ve been made.

Ignoring this, Jeffery could tell this very power was currently at work, spread out throughout the entire void and reaching to the very tips of everything. The pencil sensed Norwe looping time in one ua with an angel-winged and devil tailed woman, minotaur, gnome, and a four armed gorilla walking through a swamp. Jeffery also sensed Norwe turning an entire aU barren of any life to a thought, before turning that thought into one of infinitely large castles with magical knights and kings, and then making that thought the new aU. Some kid in a suit that hummed with Presence, that Cendruex that Herah once knew, a white-fox girl with water tails, and a small robot riddled with keys appeared within one of these castles. Norwe did this and many more things at the same time while Jeffery observed.

Bearing witness to all of this, Jeffery compared this power to their own, finding it overwhelming in comparison.

At least, when out of battle.

“Hey! You really are thinking of fighting me Jeffery!” The pencil felt Norwe’s excitement grow as the Maker finished their own use of eE, “How long has it been? Three centuries for you since we last fought?”

Jeffery imagined a projection of Herah nodding her head appearing right over them, their Presence sending out a burst of red lines which formed into exactly that.

“Well Jeffery,” Norwe raised their middle right hand towards the pencil, forming it into a chop, “Are you in the mood to do it again? This time I’ll give you a proper eA.”

Jeffery pondered this for a moment, rotating in place before shaking their lead and turning to the direction of Herah.

Norwe pouted.

“Boring.”

Jeffery rolled their nonexistent eyes and withdrew their Presence back into themselves.

“Hey Jeffery, just to let you know.” Jeffery paused, as Norwe appeared before them, a now black smile stretching across their starry face, “I think out of everyone in her group, the artist is in the most interesting reality. Something tells me, I’ll be calling her by her name second amongst my gifted.”

Jeffery felt Norwe grow serious, their smile completely disappearing.

“If that happens during Recompense, you should really let her know the truth of you, her, and what Presence and Will are. Because once I speak her name-”

Jeffery felt a sudden burst of Norwe’s Presence, tendrils of orange lashing out like a reflexive kick. An instant later, through what had to have been sheer instinct, four hundred distinct Presences made themselves known throughout the entirety of the Norwe’s Sandbox.

“-she’ll need you more than anything else.”

Jeffery once again let their Presence overtake them in a sketchy red shroud, and sent out a burst of lines aimed at every single one of those signatures but two. They imagined an image of themselves entering every mind that their Presence sought out.

Redrawing their Presence once again, Jeffery fired off through the void and towards Herah, though some parting words from an unserious Norwe caused the pencil to make a slight change in direction.

“You might want to stop by the au you lost Artist’s bag in, I’m sure it’s very wanted!”