Chapter 36: The Return Policy
The "Claims & Returns" office smelled faintly of old parchment and lemon-scented floor wax. It was a silence so absolute it made Xavier's ears ring. Outside the glass windows of the office, the golden gears of the Nexus ground together in cosmic scale, but inside, the only sound was the soft ticking of a wall clock that looked like it had been bought at a department store.
Adriel, the man in the beige cardigan, folded his newspaper neatly. "You're staring, Xavier. It's a common reaction. Most people expect a throne made of lightning. But when you've been managing the logistics of existence for eons, you learn to appreciate a comfortable chair and a good filing system."
"You're the Customer," Xavier said, setting the Zero-Point Core on the desk. "The one my father was looking for."
"I am the Auditor," Adriel corrected, sliding the box toward him. "And this Core? It's not a battery. It's the System's factory reset button. Your reality—the Dungeons, the Bureau, the Void—it's become cluttered. Too many errors. Too much 'noise.' My instructions are to press this and start a fresh build."
Xavier felt a cold knot tie in his stomach. "A reset. You mean everyone... D-City, my sister, the people I've delivered to... they just get deleted?"
"Archived," Adriel said with a small, sympathetic smile. "They'll be part of the 'Version 1.0' backup. But the universe needs a clean slate."
The door to the office didn't open; it disintegrated.
A shadow poured into the room, cold enough to frost the glass of the water cooler. From the darkness emerged a figure that made Vane look like a child—Void Prime. He was a towering silhouette of negative space, his very presence causing the reality of the office to flicker and stutter.
"The Auditor... and the Driver," the Void Prime hissed, its voice sounding like grinding stone. "The reset belongs to the Void. We are the entropy that remains when your 'versions' fail. Give me the Core, and I will ensure the next reality is born in darkness."
Adriel sighed, reaching for a stapler. "So many uninvited guests today."
The Void Prime lashed out with a whip of pure shadow-matter. Adriel didn't move. As the whip entered the space above his desk, it transformed mid-air into a long string of colorful paperclips that fell harmlessly onto the carpet.
"I can't delete him, Xavier," Adriel whispered, his brow furrowing. "He's a 'System-Level Conflict.' Only a Courier can finalize the destination of the Core."
Xavier looked at the Core, then at the Void Prime, who was recovering for another strike. He remembered the footnote in his father's logbook: The Driver chooses the destination.
"I'm not delivering this to you, Adriel," Xavier said, his silver engine beginning to roar. "And I'm definitely not giving it to him."
"Then what are you doing?" Adriel asked, intrigued.
"I'm re-addressing the package."
Xavier grabbed the Core. He engaged the Spatial Gearbox to the absolute limit, his body flickering in a rapid-fire sequence of Blink-Shifts. To the Void Prime, it looked like Xavier was everywhere at once, weaving a shimmering web of silver starlight around the shadow-entity.
[Initiating: Data Packet Encapsulation]
Xavier wasn't attacking. He was "Packaging." He used his silver exhaust to create a spatial envelope around the Void Prime, effectively tagging the villain as the recipient of the Core's effect.
"You can't contain me!" the Void Prime roared, lunging for Xavier.
"I don't have to contain you," Xavier gritted his teeth, slamming the Core into the center of the silver web. "I just have to deliver you to yourself! Reverse-Sync: Return to Sender!"
The Core flared. A blinding white light erupted, not outward to the universe, but inward, toward the Void Prime. The "Reset" triggered, but because Xavier had encapsulated the target, the energy was focused entirely on the entity. The Void Prime didn't die; it was "Archived"—compressed into a singular, harmless point of data and blinked out of existence.
The office returned to its quiet, lemon-scented state. The Core was gone, its energy spent.
Adriel looked at the empty space where the Void Prime had been, then at Xavier. "You used a Reset to delete a single bug instead of the whole System. Highly inefficient. The Creator won't be pleased with the waste of resources."
"The System isn't broken, Adriel. It's just messy," Xavier said, adjusting his hat. "It doesn't need a reset. It needs a better delivery service."
Adriel leaned back in his chair, tapping a pen against his chin. "An Independent Auditor, then? One who fixes the 'bugs' manually instead of erasing the timeline?"
"I've got the warehouse. I've got the engine," Xavier said. "Give me the Multiversal GPS, and I'll handle the claims."
Adriel smiled—a real one this time. He reached into his drawer and pulled out a heavy, platinum-plated stamp. He slammed it onto a fresh contract.
[CONTRACT SIGNED: SOVEREIGN LOGISTICS AGENT]
The New Horizon
Xavier walked back onto the loading dock of the Rig. Serena and Silas were waiting, eyes wide.
"What happened?" Silas asked. "The map... it's changing."
Xavier looked at the dashboard. The map of D-City had expanded. It showed ripples of different realities, timelines, and dimensions, all connected by the silver ley lines of the Slip.
"The Reset is off," Xavier said, gripping the steering handles. He felt the Zero-Point energy humming in the heart of the Rig. It was no longer just a warehouse; it was the most powerful engine in the multiverse.
"So, are we going home?" Serena asked.
Xavier looked out at the infinite gears of the Nexus, his silver exhaust venting softly into the void.
"Eventually," Xavier said with a grin. "But we've got a backlog of three thousand years to clear first. And I hear the tips in the Fourth Dimension are incredible."
He slammed the Gearbox into "Warp." The Rig vanished in a streak of silver light, leaving the Nexus behind.
Magical Delivery LLC was officially open for business. Everywhere.