YEAR FOUR - MONTH ONE - EZRA'S LABORATORY
"It EXPLODED again."
I stared at the smoking crater where Ezra's latest experiment had been. The laboratory's EASTERN wall was gone. Just GONE. Replaced by open air and the confused faces of pedestrians on the street BELOW.
"That's the SEVENTH explosion this month," I said.
"EIGHTH," Ezra corrected, extinguishing flames on their sleeve. "You missed Tuesday's. It was SMALL. Barely destroyed anything."
"The council sent ANOTHER complaint. Something about 'reckless endangerment' and 'repeated violations of municipal building CODES.'"
"Building codes are SUGGESTIONS when you're trying to create a body from PURE REALITY ENERGY." Ezra kicked debris aside. "Besides. Progress IS being made. Each explosion teaches me something NEW."
"What did THIS explosion teach you?"
