Chapter 50 – Petanque of Lost Worlds

A gentle morning glides over the windows of the blue tower a mischievous light crosses the great hall, spirals around a shelf, then suddenly condenses into a bouncing letter the paper is strange folded like a comic book panel, it opens by itself Saphira, lying on a cushion, reads aloud, feet in the air: "Yo, Potato! come take a tour in my tower i have games, but not mortal ones. Signed: Saphira Noctielle, Queen of the Tower."

The blue door creaks open in a fireworks display of bubbles and laughing letters a character splits the air, cape in the wind, brandishing a flag: "Multiverse or nothing." Super Potato lands with a galactic mash sound. He stares the queen straight in the eyes:"I've come, and I'm hungry for challenges and cookies." Saphira waits for him, amused, sitting at a table with a loaded basket:"Today, we're playing pétanque. But not with normal balls."

Saphira leads them into a sealed wing of the tower, normally never opened to guests to protect what is inside. In this small dimension, the room vibrates with a sacred silence. In floating cases, forgotten universes drift: spheres of halted stories, fragments of worlds without readers these are Universes that have reached the end of their story the gods no longer want them, but she gives them one last dance gently, she takes one; it pulsates, still warm with happy stars and a multitude of planets and galaxies. Saphira compacts them one by one dense, shining spheres, as heavy as infinity itself, with gentleness and desire, ready to be played.

A transparent plain floats in a void between existence and non-existence the sky-ground is made of celestial glass and solid blue energy each line is drawn by a living constellation. In the center, a stable white star the heart of the game. Zorya, in lunar referee attire, steps forward, star-shaped whistle to her mouth. at the cosmos' signal, "Play!" Super Potato throws a blinking sphere that explodes in fireworks. 

The sky draws a comic panel: "PÉTANQUE-BOOM." Saphira, calm, concentrated, throws a red sphere it zigzags through eight dimensions, turns back, returns through a mirror rift, and lands on the heart. "I call that a cosmic return." the others join them, Saphira surprised to see them. Pink, with a sphere forged from a divine metal that seems melancholic, forged with emotion and the laws of antithesis. Destiny, whose ball makes no sound but whose passage leaves a trail of energy it was created with threads from the history of forgotten ancient heroes. Hope, the little fairy, magic glove on her fingers, throws a candy sphere of pure raw magic, as if not underestimating her opponents. Diva leaps, does a somersault, and shouts a "YAH!" worthy of a thousand lightning bolts. Saphira throws a black sphere the tower rumbles, a crack, a dimensional rift tears in the air. 

—"Oops, that one wasn't quite stable yet…" Super Potato throws himself headfirst.

 —"I SACRIFICE MY MASH TO SAVE THE MULTIVERSE!" The impact reduces him to a cloud of golden fries a minute passes, then, in the middle of the cosmic cushion, "I'm immortal, right? don't forget that." he reforms, proud as a comic book god everyone laughs the forgotten spheres now glow softly they won't be restored, but they will have served they will have existed in a gesture of play, of love they were used to play, but at least, they were seen, loved, for an instant. Super Potato, biting into a cookie. 

—"You're the only goddess I respect, kid. If we ever make another world, you write the script, okay?" Saphira, smiling. 

—"But you do the sound effects."

End of Chapter 50 – Petanque of Lost Worlds