Baby is recovering faster than I'd ever expected, thanks to that bottle of red liquid. I don't know what it is, but it works rather well, if not somewhat slowly. Of course, that might be due more to the amount of damage that had been dealt to him by the Kadaialon.

Nudging my leg, the small earth dragon made a curious meowing sound. It was looking rather intently at Bubble's position on my head.

[I think it wants to get on your head too.]

[Even if it wasn't as heavy as it is, that's Bubbles' place. No one gets it except him.]

[Hmmm... I suppose that's a good point.]

Looking away from the dragon, I bring up a topic I'd been rather curious about.

[Why don't you stay outside of me? You know, with your body?]

[There isn't much of a reason, really. The construct takes up quite a bit of void energy to build, but aside from that, simply existing is... strange. There's too much stimulus to accurately quantify when you're actually experiencing it.]

[I understand what you're saying, but I really enjoy getting to look at you when I talk to you.]

Her voice sounds very odd when she responds.

[...Really?]

[Of course. It's much easier to talk with someone when I can see them.]

[Oh.]

She sounds disappointed for some reason.

The dragon nudges me again, rather insistently. I don't really get what part of it is a dragon - it doesn't look anything like Kerem, and doesn't have wings either. I feel as though missing a limb is a rather critical difference.

As we walk through some trees, we enter a clearing. Except, this clearing stretches on for miles, almost perfectly unbroken except for a hill or two dotting the mostly level ground. Without any trees around, the sky looks more massive than ever, with puffy clouds floating through it. The grass swayed under the breeze, which had no foliage to be dispersed through.

Turning around, I can see mountains behind us and a gap between them that we'd apparently been walking through for quite some time. Snowy crags stab at the sky, gray precipices stunting out of their sides as it sloped downwards. They're horrifyingly huge, but for some reason, I can only feel awe at their size. They must have been growing a long time to get that big.

[Wow.]

I can only agree with Joule.

The three humans stepped outwards, breathing deeply as they did. Alice simply stops and closes her eyes, furry ears twitching, and Dylan stands up straighter. Baby speaks cheerfully despite the long strips of white fabric wrapped around his ribs. "Man, I missed this. What about you, Null? D'you ever want to get out of the forest every now and then?"

[I didn't know there was anything except forest.]

He gapes for a moment before shaking his head. "I guess you've never left it. How old are you, anyway?"

[About six months or so.]

They stare at me for a moment before Alice unexpectedly laughs. "You know what, I can't even be surprised anymore. That's how much this trip has messed me up." Dylan nervously releases a half-giggle, but still seems capable of appreciating the unusual.

I look at the treeline beside me and the grassline in front of me.

[Are you ready?]

If I could smile, I would have. Five months ago I never would have considered it. Even after Noah mutated me, I'd never really grasped how large the world was. I would likely continue to be surprised by its size as I grew, but then again, that was only natural. The world was larger than me, after all. An ant can only grow so big.

[I think so.]

I step across the line and take my first step outside the Hiding Forest.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Noah popped a can of soda open, grabbing his sandwich and a game controller. He'd been grinding for hours in order to get to this point, and he wasn't about to back down now. He put his headset back on, talking into it as he did. "All right guys, this is it. All of the carrying I've been doing for you is about to pay off."

His phone dinged, and he picked it up and saw what it said. He stopped moving entirely, just staring at the screen, before laughing out loud. "Sorry guys, you're on your own. I've got more important things to do."

Ignoring the complaints of his horribly underequipped squad, he turned off the console and opened a portal to a very specific multiverse.

Stepping through, he found himself on a precipice of a mountain range, a forest to his right and plains to his left. Far below him, he could see four specks moving away from the trees and onto the flat area.

He grinned and sat down, one leg casually hanging over the edge and the other tucked up against him. Raising his soda can, he toasted the ant that had maintained his interest for so long.

For Null, it had only been half a year. For Noah, it had been countless eternities of looking for the right host, only to be met with failure time and time again. He hadn't figured it out until his younger sister taught him the value of willpower, and stability, and a moderate amount of attention. It had cost him several universes and quite a lot of power and time to find the right one, but he'd found him all right. No creature before the tiny ant had ever survived longer than a few seconds, but then along came Null.

"Good luck, buddy. I'll be helping whenever I can, even if you never see me."