It was the next day. “So let me get this straight. You turned a 5th dimensional monster into a girl?” Asked Arlo as Zero was eating a burger. “No.” Zero pinches the bridge of his nose. “She originated from the 5th dimension, then she fell into our dimension and went through a series of mutations to get to the point of where she is.” Arlo looked like his brain was already steaming, the gears getting stuck on one another. “But how do mutations work? And what are dimensions?”

  Zero was willing to give Arlo the benefit of the doubt and answer his question. “Mutations occur when a magic user desires something substantially. And no, it can be like ‘Oh mommy I want a car badly’, that’s not how it fuckin’ works.” Zero said with a mouthful of burgers. “The desires have to be tied with yourself and your magic. Like if you feel inadequate with your magic, or if you need your magic to survive—”

  Arlo interjected. “Wait, so I can become stronger—”

  Zero looked like he was about to shove his burger down Arlo’s throat, but then he’d feel bad for the burger. So, instead… he quite literally shoved a sock into Arlo’s mouth. “The desire can’t be synthetic. You can’t just want to become stronger just by wanting it. You can’t be tricked into undergoin’ mutations, either. It has to be an authentic desire in the spur of the moment.”

  Arlo tried to mumble something, but Zero kept talking. “So, don’t be a dumbass your magic isn’t conscious. If you wish to be become stronger it will do anything at all costs to make you stronger, even if it screws you over. Your magic ain’t a fuckin’ genie. It doesn’t give a damn about your feelings— it just does whatever’s necessary to make your desires come true, even if it screws you over. Don’t go wishin’ to be stronger willy-nilly. Not that mutations are common anyway, it only occurs to 0.01% of the population.”

  He paused for a second, remembering that Arlo also wanted to know about dimensions. “Ah, but about dimensions… that’s another story altogether.” Zero starts eating his second burger. “Everyone exists in a layer of dimension. We exist on the third layer, meaning we’re third dimensional.”

  Zero took out a piece of paper and drew a person on it quickly. “See this guy? He’s two dimensional, meanin’ he’s flat. In case you couldn’t tell. He can only move up, down, left, and right.” Meanin’ he can’t do something like...” Zero shoves another sock into Arlo’s mouth when he takes out the first one. "-this."

  He took a moment to fix his posture “But I can since we’re third dimensional, meaning I can move forward and backward on top of bein’ able to move up, down, left, and right. And that, my friend, is what we call space.”

  Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

  Zero took a brief moment to pause. He didn’t even care if Arlo understood this or not. “But uh, the fourth dimension is where things can get a bit tricky. Cause we can’t just go test the fourth dimension, like how we can test the second and first dimensions. We can test the first two dimensions because our dimension still utilizes the first and second dimensions as a foundation.”

  Arlo took out the second sock. “So, what’s the fourth dimension all about?”

  Zero took another brief pause. “If the third dimension is about space, then the fourth is about time. Before you say time is also applicable to us. That’s true, but not in the same sense. We’re constantly moving forward in time, but we can’t go back.”

  Zero paused to come up with another analogy. “You remember how I said that since we exist in the spatial dimension, we can move through space? The same concept applies to the fourth dimension. In simple, it's sort of time travel; they move through the past, present, and future like how we move through space, cause it's their norm, and they see the past, present, and future occurring at once. So uh, if they want to, they can just go to any point in time. And since, technically, the fifth dimension exists above space-time, they have access to the infinite timelines. Since space is two layers below, and time is also comfortably niche, their law of reality ain’t the same as ours. In other words, Z’phyr wouldn’t just move through time but also between different versions of history.”

  Arlo looked like he had more questions than answers. His brain was lagging so hard it might as well have blue-screened. “So how does—”

  Zero cut him off. “Never mind.”

  Just then, the area flashed white, then Kiryu was standing there as if he teleported. “You human, you mentioned your name to be ‘Zero,’ yes?”

  Zero responded to Kiryu. “Hey, can you pass the tissues?”

  Kiryu looked annoyed, he did not give Zero the tissues. “Anyway, your profound knowledge of magic and dimensional science is peculiar. From today, onwards. I shall assert myself to be part of the main cast.”

  “Um, okay. So, no tissues?” Zero responded.

  “No. No tissues. Irritating punk.” Kiryu responded.

  Arlo on the other hand pissed himself again, how the hell was Zero casually interacting with the one one above death? The Reaper of Devils. If you know what that means… Then you would know that he is above immortality itself.

  “So, uh, I think maybe it’s time to wrap up this chapter.” Zero said casually.

  Arlo was even more confused about what that meant. “What do you me—”

  Kiryu cut him off. “Hmm, this is rather intriguing. You’re not meta-aware, and yet… the way you speak… the way you behave makes it seem like you are. I see...” It was then that Kiryu knew it. Zero was the most intriguing character in this entire novel. “I agree. Enough of this wasted chapter of mere conversation. The chapter ends here.”